Only semi-related to this discussion, but inbound to LGW yesterday mid-afternoon, a reasonable amount of unexpected holding despite not a huge traffic flow......
LGW were still giving "160 knots to 4 DME" but with a wind at 3000 feet of around 270/55-65 knots, the ground speed on final approach was extremely slow.....hence quite wide gaps between arriving / departing traffic.
Surely with strong headwinds on approach it is in the controller's interest to keep the speed up a bit (180 to 4 DME perhaps) to try and keep the ground speed closer to normal, and therefore better spacing. This would also have reduced amount of holding.
What would be the ATC / Operational implications of this?