Gonzo
Personally I don't care what flow measures are on
It's good to know that you 'don't care' what flow measures are on. The flow measures are in place not only to protect Heathrow ATC, but to ensure the wider ATC community (there
is a wider ATC community, by the way) deliver the correct number of aircraft to the stack. This helps to ensure that sectors further back up the chain do not get overloaded with aircraft. The only difference between one of your overloads on the ground, and one of ours in the air, is that our aircraft are...in the air. These are the ones that don't tend to stop when instructed.
I would know that when I'd turn up for my first day, I would have 3.5 mile spacing, and that would be it. Others who hadn't had my level of involvement in the project, or weren't as confident, might not).
Interesting. 3.5 mile spacing equates to a landing rate of 38. The declared rate for NVCR post transition is 40. This equates to an average arrival spacing of 3 to 3.25 miles, which once you've taken all the vortex wake spacings out of the equation, means 3 mile spacing between appropriate pairs of aircraft. This is what all your colleagues (the ones that presumably haven't had your level of involvement, or don't have your level of confidence) seem to be coping with no problem.