"Maybe it should be put to a vote of the local residents? "

That's called democracy so there's sod all chance of that happening in this country.

I'm surprised Cameron and his genital wart of a mate Gideon haven't privatised the armed forces yet. Then we could expect taxpayers money to be poured into the account of feckless tosspots delivering missile systems that couldn't shoot down a poor argument at point black range. Mind you, him and his chum are merrily practising on the NHS, so time will tell.