Poles secure return of musical for residents (7)
I believe the answer is:
natives
'residents' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'poles secure return of musical' is the wordplay.
'poles' becomes 'ns' (North and South poles).
'secure' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters are secured inside).
'return of' is a reversal indicator.
'musical' becomes 'evita' (Andrew Lloyd Webber musical).
'evita' in reverse letter order is 'ative'.
'ns' going around 'ative' is 'NATIVES'.
'for' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for natives that I've seen before include "Local inhabitants of specified place" , "The people born in particular place" , "Indigenous inhabitants" , "Vainest (anag)" , "oysters" .)