At some non-NATS units there can be a stick-in-the-mud attitude. This is because of a lower turnover of staff, I think. It can be surprising how some ATCOs are so fixed in their ways.
Clearances being passed to aircraft at the holding point creates unneccessary workload in the cockpit. Fair enough (& often neccessary) for an ammendment to be passed, i.e. "stop climb at..." but there is no justifiable reason for the SIDs not to be given on stand.
There is a TWR refurbishment about to take place and I understand that the new desk & comms gear will necessitate some changes to their ADC - APR coordination practices. This could well be part of that. Should make things easier on the flightdecks too!
This is not meant to sound too critical of ATC @ Leeds. I know that there are many professional & flexible ATCOs there. A few, however, could do with opening their eyes to the world outside the Peoples' Republic of Yorkshire!
