Foghorn, my point was not that you shouldn't plan to go through the overhead, rather, that there is no particular value in *actually saying it* in your RT call. If the overhead is available, for the very reasons you state, you will be asked to route there. If it isn't available, you wasted your breath and airtime even saying it.
9/10 times you will be routed through the overhead via the touchdown threshold. The option of a more direct transit will only normally be offered if there is no IFR traffic current or anticipated.
The Entry/Exit lanes you refer to are a hangover from the distant days when Luton was a rather unique combined CTR/SRZ and provided an SVFR lane for those without instrument ratings in poor weather. In practice you are the first person outside Luton ATC I have heard talk about them in a long time. It is unusual for them to be used now at all, except in very marginal weather with a pilot who is unable to accept an IFR transit. They really died with the arrival of the Class D categorisation and the associated relaxation of rules relating to the IMC rating.
On the WOBUN point, a note of caution. WOBUN and the Woburn VRP are not the same place, even though they are close.
On a more anal point, the predominant runway at Cranfield is 22, making Stewartby a much better VRP to head towards. From Stewartby, you invariably get a left base join, from WOBURN you end up on Downwind...
[This message has been edited by 2Donkeys (edited 15 March 2001).]