Clubs need a good number of quality resident singers, not residents who his material is not practised.
I think it should not be a question of either local or national, but both., it really depoends on the organiser,because he/she generally has to foot the bill
folk clubs used to provide a foot on the ladder, many floor singers graduated to residents and then some eventually became national guests.
I am not sure if this still happens, I suspect thatelemtns of the pop world have infiltrated the folk club scene, in other words the importance of hype and promotion is more important than merit.
Although it is not in my own interest to say this, I think the best answer is to have clubs with good strong singers that do not have to have paid guests other than periodically, however good singers do not want to go to places where the standard is low, so national guests were in the past booked to help raise the standard of performance.
another way to raise standrd of performance is to follow the example of lewes club and have workshops, or to follow the example of the critics group, but this means having people around of the calibre of maccoll and seeger who are happy to give up their time and knowledge for nothing.
are the likes of of MacColl and Seeger people still around today?What better person could you have had than MacColl to help song writers