I think its understandable that each of the present SAR "owners" wishes to have a say in which bases remain in the new service. While these vested interests are not always helpful, many of the "mandatory" bases are not neccessarily in conflict with the need to provide new SAR-H bases in those locations anyway. There may be exceptions however, and its a fact of life that our elected politicans have their vested interest too. After all - they allocate and vote for the money to be spent.
A blank piece of paper would of course been an ideal starting point, but no project of this size and scale can ever start with such a blank sheet - irritating as it is for those who might have an optimum solution in their heads!!
Cheers