Deep and fast-From a Scottish TMA point of view,the controllers would prefer the tweed hold to be much further south and east to facilitate jumping the inbounds with the Talla departures,which of course would mean that you are lower earlier. As an aside,one of my colleagues got a mouthful of abuse the other night from a pilot (A319) for telling him to be FL80 10 miles before LANAK,this was due to a PH departure weather avoiding and to ensure separation,the pilot was angry about burning more fuel than he would have done. When possible,during quiet times,eg saturday evening and during the night shift, we are able to approve direct routeings and cancel restrictions. At any other time though the restrictions are needed due to interaction with other routes and volume of traffic. I do appreciate that the price of fuel is hitting airlines very hard though, and that pilots may be under pressure from management to use as little as possible.
Hootin an a roarin-My watch at Scottish has an excellent working relationship with our opposite watch at PH. Most of the controllers DO filter traffic towards TARTN with vertical separation,just as they do at MACC and LACC. There are however controllers (some ex approach,some not) who still seem to think that going to the hold is some sort of failure on their part,and will vector stuff all roung the TMA to avoid the hold. To be honest,it's embarrassing to watch sometimes.
There are inconsistencies at PH as well though. Most of the time the hold is cleared quickly and levels are vacated early,but not all controllers seem to be able to manage this,and gaps on final approach can be erratic to say the least. The Scottish TC idea is one that I think would work well,perhaps with the Talla North sector sat between PF and PH radar. I also agree with you that the airspace needs urgent changes,so do the SIDs and STARs.