Whirls,
True, true. They are pretty much literally a law unto themselves.
Whirly,
Presumably, in this case, the geographical need is the whole country and you could argue that as no-one is currently doing it, then you should be allowed (given hours, etc.) Then, when you are happily servicing the whole nation (ooer missus!) you could then argue against someone in, say, Cornwall or Aberdeen becoming a Rotorway FE because you consider those areas your stamping ground.
Muffin,
That's basically what I thought - anticompetitive. If AME's have had those rules lifted, I'd imagine it would make maintenance of the FE equivalent untenable.
But, as Whirls said, these sorts of trivia have rarely troubled the CAA.