mat
Yeh, it's nice to go home early - shame that in the brave new world of UK ATC you need the VFR traffic to pay for the beers and mortgage
I don't really know how ATC works, and I have a lot of time for the people on the front line, but looking at how things are done elsewhere, 85000 movements a year in a single runway radar environment is not enough to require having to book a practice approach.
Empower the guys in the tower and let them decide at the time!
Blame the management I say
(Must have misunderstood you on the VFR/IFR issue)