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A leading television historian and architect accused the Town Hall this week of “perversely” giving the go-ahead to a building which will partially obscure the view to Holloway’s magnificent 19th century clocktower. Dr Jonathan Foyle, who appears on BBC 2’s Climbing Great Buildings, joined residents on Sunday afternoon in a protest against the plans for Caledonian Park.Residents oppose the building of a 210sq metre visitors’ centre with café and toilets in front of the 1855 clocktower. They say the building would ruin the view from North Road of the lower half of the tower, which is approached by a landscaped avenue of grass and flowers.More than 700 people have now signed a petition calling for the centre to be re-sited elsewhere in the park, where it would be less obtrusive.Dr Foyle, who lives locally, described the current council scheme as a “vanity project”. He added: “The clocktower is a major feature of the park. It seems perverse to slap a building in front of it, where it is going to wreck the view.“The whole project seems overblown for what is really needed. Perhaps a small café, interpretation material and toilets are needed. But that could be sorted out by a hut and a couple of signage panels.”Blackadder actor Tim McInnerny, who stars in the new Spooks film, The Greater Good, said: “I visit family and friends here and I think the clocktower is really quite a beautiful building. To put something in front of it and ruin the view from the road seems crazy. As a visitor I don’t see the need for a centre at all, at least not one blocking a view.”Chairwoman of the Friends of Cally Park, Sylvia Tunstall, welcomed the council decision to improve the park but said it was wrong to go ahead with just one preferred option.Cally Park Action Group member Lizzy McInnerny feared that the centre would bring noise and disturbance for residents. “We’re just 300 names away from 1,000 signatures from people who are all against this scheme,” she said. “We appeal to the council to look at it again.”The Grade II-listed clocktower, which has remained closed for 76 years, is a central feature of the park redevelopment.In 1834, tens of thousands of people gathered in the park, then called Copenhagen Fields, to march in support of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, who were being deported to Australia for forming a trade union.The visitors’ centre is part of a consultation by the council over the upgrade of the park, which has won £126,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund.The original consultation over the centre received 198 responses, with 96 per cent in favour of undertaking the work.Councillor Paul Smith, chairman of the committee scrutinising the scheme, said he believed that some residents had misunderstood the size of the centre. “The majority of residents appear to be in favour of the current proposals,” he said. “The visitors’ centre will be no taller than the size of the current fence. We will, of course, consult on the final development within a few weeks’ time.”