Ok so the majority appear to be against it. In an ideal world I would agree, however, whilst I totally agree with you Chilli, single manning is not desirable, it is however a situation that is faced regularly at several units.
Been there, done it. Didn't have the luxury of an ATM though so the option you propose was never available. Said unit has taken 2 years to get back to full manning. I'm not actually against single manning by the way, providing you have ATCA support. It's the combination of the ADI/APS function that's the bone of contention here.
I believe even your unit struggled to attract the normal number of applicants last time round. How would you solve the problem?
There are only 2 solutions:
1) Invest and bond - notwithstanding the debate of whether bonding is legal or not the time is here when the supply of NATS failures with an ADC rating has dried up. Airports have to bite the bullet and spend money on training staff for the future, or throw money at the mercenaries out there to tempt them to move. Both these solutions however mean the rich survive, the poor die. Your management has to decide whether they want to be a player, and spend the money accordingly, or realise aviation isn't cheap and seriously think how they want to proceed if they haven't got the funding.
OR
2) Sub-contract APS services to an adjacent airfield who can guarantee the staffing, and accept the fact that you are a tower only aerodrome. If you have an adjacent, fully staffed, international airport next door (
) then maybe it's time to start talking - even to the extent that you could be encompassed in their class 'D' (should they have any).
Nobody has mentioned the self positioning of A/C using Centrefix. What’s wrong with doing that?
I'd say nothing at all - any IFR equipped aircraft should be BRNAV capable. All you need is a definition as to what the "centrefix" is. The European custom of adopting an RNAV reporting point for the Initial, Intermediate or even Final Approach Fix of an ILS is something that would be well adopted in the UK at certain airfields - thereby defining the "centrefix".