Here comes the rant!
Managing the bottom few holding levels? We hardly ever receive control of the bottom 3 levels as per our agreement. Also when holding, you can see traffic arriving from the south left high and entering the hold at fl150/160 and above. You then keep this traffic until it is nearing min stack no matter how much the approach controller rings to let you know levels are clear or 'ill take him now'. We always open another position when holding but more often than not one of the controllers is sitting with his/her thumb up their behinds because they have no traffic as it is high in the hold at Tartan not under their control.
Observing another radar feed does not give you the full picture of the gaps or traffic unless you can select the EDI radar. We can only control the aircraft that we are given and usually only tighten them up on final approach. This falls below your radar coverage around 6 - 7 miles which looks like we have larger gaps than reality. It is like me commenting on the permanent lack of traffic in the TAY sector from my view of the EDI radar.
The airspace needs reviewing now. It was underway I believe by one of your senior managers (he goes everywhere with a clipboard) until it was mothballed and put into the too hard pile. We want it changing and have formed committees with Scoacc personnel in the past but it is usually the Scoacc side that seems reluctant to change. The gates were only just agreed to as we were being screwed by aircraft permanently being sent to a 10 mile final (no co-ordination).
I agree there is still room for improvement on both sides but we are being held up most probably by the NPC. People are concentrating on that whereas the TMA has needed changing for years but it is a can of worms. It shouldn't be because there are models around the country already in existence that we can all learn from. Maybe the Manc guys will shed some light or new ideas on the situation as all there inbound traffic route towards holding fixes unless otherwise co-ordinated. Alternatively lets have a Scottish TC. I'm certainly up for Band 4 pay!