Would someone in Shrewsbury, Telford, Worcester or Hereford use STN as their first choice?
They are all in the Midlands.
Of course not, but to be in the catchment area of an airport doesn't mean it has to be the first choice. For example, East Midlands is my first choice, but since people from my area regularly use Birmingham, Luton and Stansted, we are still within the catchment area of those airports.
But ok I agree, the WHOLE of the Midlands maybe a bit OTT, but certainly the East Midlands, less so the West Midlands but people from places like Coventry, Birmingham etc. will certainly consider Stansted, but very unlikely to look at Southend.
The point I'm trying to make is that Southend has a catchment area which is much smaller than its rivals and that may be unattractive to start-up carriers and the extreme liklihood of Stansted adding value under new ownership may worsen things for Southend as competition will increase.