EGGW.
I hope that the following may prove useful and clarify some of the points that you and others have raised.
At about the time you arrived there were at least 12 arrivals due into Luton within 20 minutes, not a lot at some airports but a lot for Luton which I believe has a planned movement rate of 30 per hour in Cat 1 and about 15 to 20 in LVPs. The runway in use at Luton had been changed to 26 because the surface wind was straight across, the reported 300 feet wind was similar and the IRVR minima for 26 is lower than for 08. Landing you and the others on 26 would have saved you each about 30 track miles at least.
If you were one of the arrivals through LRL it may have felt like you were going around the countryside but in fact you have followed the standard arrival route and then been tactically vectored by Essex radar to position you about 12 to 15 miles in trail, this gives the Luton Director a fighting chance to get you a 10 mile final and provide the Tower person with the 10 mile gap. In the event that there was departing traffic, at there were at least two during the arrival period you refer to, the gap would have been 15 miles. You were transferred to Luton at 5000 feet because that is the lowest level available north of BKY that keeps you inside CAS and at 220 knots because that is generally the preferred speed. If you come via BKY and aren’t subject to extended vectoring you can’t be descended below 5000 feet until you are about 15 miles from touchdown because of the base of CAS nor can you be descended below the G/P outside 8 miles for the same reason.
The Essex/Stansted position was split three ways because there were arrivals into Stansted at the same time. There were also Northbound and Westbound departures from 05 at Stansted, all of which conflicted with the Lorel, Abbot and Down Wind Right releases to Luton. Luton was split with one person vectoring and one coordinating
The airspace within which Luton and Stansted operate is not huge and we do the best that we can within the constraints placed on us. We were, as always, trying to achieve the best runway movement rate for the airport operator and give the minimum delay to pilots. If you or anyone else had asked to slow down, extend your route or delay your approach it would have been accommodated if nobody says anything then we assume that you are happy.