You know, people like you can learn from the French. At CDG, they recognised the inadequacies in their system, and put in a second tower and a second layer of ground controllers. They are also very good at making sure you are aware of other aircraft, and making sure they don't clear you past a point that they know is clear (well, most of the time, anyway).
I know it doesn't work like that at MAN, but it should. The lessons of the past tell us that stuff like SMR saves lives and metal. We MAY not have positive control on the ground (depending on how you interpret the CAP), but we should.