For what its worth, the three companies raised the problem of holding point delays recently and I've been working with them to see how we can improve the situation. Yes, better scheduling giving less bunching of departures around 0700 would be great, but if that isn't a realistic possibility then we'll have to see what else we can come up with (I'm always open to suggestions!).
One thing we have already ruled out as being unworkable is some sort of flow control - the complexities and workload generated by such a system totally outweighed the benefits.
For what its worth, I always wait until the heli has set down before chucking it to Ground. Following an Observation report, we did also examine dropping the frequency to leave just "contact Tower", etc to reduce RT loading. Unfortunately SRG had set a precedent in this area by rejecting an earlier similar suggestion on Anglia Radar. Never let it be said we don't try!
