If it were posssible for more traffic to be cleared through the airspace in which flower controls then that traffic would be cleared through. For every occurence of a zone clearance being refused by the controller, for whatever reason, a mandatory form has to be filled in... (I think I am correct in saying this).
Yes I agree with providing more radar services. In fact I would go as far to say that if they could provide something along the lines of "Flight Following" that the American's have then we would be so much happier... Flight Following is just one of those fantastic services that is available free of charge to the GA pilot stateside.
I'm in full agreement with the charts. Too much clutter. Especially airspace above 10,000'. They could probably do something like they do with the quarter mils and only have airspace up to 5,000' (or FL55) depicted BUT increase the height to something like 10,000'. That would incorporate most, if not all, VFR flights...
For instance I showed the Southern UK chart to someone in LA (for anyone who hasn't seen the LA chart then its ever so slightly more complicated looking than London). The first thing they said was, "How the **** do you fly VFR around that area?" whilst pointing to London.
But it also comes down to initial pilot training, just as Chilli Monster suggests...
Personally I would love to see a proper oral type examination introduced before each and every checkride. This ensures one learns the subject material in depth... just look stateside (yes I know I keep referring to FAA land but they do have some things right). Okay their written test is a little bit of a joke but then again our own written tests (I am talking about the PPL *not* ATPL) can be passed by "learning" the confuser. With an in depth oral exam before the skills test (just like the FAA way of things) then that would ensure candidates studied the subject material fully and actually "understand" the subject material.