LTNman
I think you actually make some valid points, but I do feel it's true that you're still on the negative side of neutral in most of your posts. For example, where is your evidence that the departure hall "can't cope with 2 aircraft"? When I flew to AMS there was a FAO departure soon after and the hall was not at all crowded.
It isn't quite accurate to say there are no public transport links to SEN in the early morning. The first X30 from Chelmsford & Rayleigh arrives at 0527 and the first train from Southend town centre at 0505. The first train from Liverpool Street arrives at 0632 so some would use that for the 0730 departure to AMS. But I completely agree that there needs to be an earlier train from London and a later train to London in the evenings. Otherwise Stobarts should arrange a coach service - they could even do that with their own coaches perhaps.
It's obvious that easyJet were aware of the situation when they planned their SEN schedules and perhaps they feel that few people actually use the train at those times. Certainly they won't have been slow in coming forward with their thoughts on the subject.
As far as the terminal is concerned, again they knew its capacity so if their scheduling does cause congestion they cannot blame anyone else. I don't know if the additional departure area (with 100 seats) is yet in use, but that should result in there being a total of around 300 seats in departures, so it should be able to cope with at least 400 pax in departures at any one time without much discomfort. The possible maximums between 0630 and 0740 are about 550 pax and with three gates that should be manageable I would have thought.
I don't feel that SEN can be blamed for building a terminal of its present size (and it was always planned to extend it within a couple of years if necessary) because they couldn't know how successful it would prove. They've now moved to more than double its size as quickly as possible and in the interim to convert the admin office area into an additional 100-seat lounge, so they can't be accused of sitting on their hands. They also now have some experience of any shortcomings in the design of the current terminal and will make changes as necessary when building the extension.