HZ123
Glad to see that the poor summer weather has done nothing to dull your pessimism.
The French view of a Le Touquet-Southend route is that it will provide access to London, which they apparently feel the existing Lydd and Shoreham/Brighton services do not, and will be especially useful for the 2012 Olympics.
There is definite substance in these reports and I only hope that something larger than a Chieftain can be anticipated to give the route some credibility and flexibility.
As far as your scepticism on the 'business jet hangar' is concerned are you aware that an RAL ad. appeared in Flight last week asking for proposals from existing FBOs to set up a base at SEN?