Crime
Solihull Murder Arrest After Man Dies on Shustoke Road
Police were called to disorder in Shustoke Road just before 9.25pm on Saturday. A man in his 40s died at the scene and two people are in custody.
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Council
Solihull SEND Inspection: Long Waits, Inconsistent Plans
Ofsted and CQC rate Solihull's SEND arrangements 'inconsistent', the middle of three verdicts. Waits are too long and EHC plans vary. Re-inspection in 3 years.
Community
Chelmsley Wood Family Hub Garden Opens on £49,828 Grant
A £49,828 Severn Trent grant has turned unused ground at Chelmsley Wood's Riverside Family Hub into a sensory garden. 151 local families voted on the design.
What's On
Free kite procession and aerial show in Solihull, 3 Oct
Under the Same Sky brings a community kite procession and a seven-metre aerial rig to Tudor Grange Park on Saturday 3 October. Free entry, 2pm to 4pm.
Council
Solihull SEND: £33.9m debt write-off rests on this month
Solihull's SEND plan reaches scrutiny on 8 September. Approval this month would clear £33.9m of a £37.7m schools deficit. EHC plans are up 12% to 2,805.
Solihull
Solihull fireworks 2026: Knowle 1 Nov, £8, on sale now
One display is confirmed and bookable: the hospital charity night at Silhillians, Knowle, Sunday 1 November, £8 adult, £3 child. Blossomfield has sold out.
Solihull
Solihull Food Festival 2026: 25-27 Sept, free, full times
Solihull's Food and Harvest Festival runs Friday 25 to Sunday 27 September in the town centre. Free entry, every stage time, plus a new farmers market.
Solihull
Solihull Christmas lights: there is no switch-on event
Solihull town centre holds no Christmas lights switch-on ceremony. Here is what the BID has dated for 2026, and why Knowle is the switch-on people mean.
Solihull
Solihull panto 2026: Peter Pan, 4 Dec to 3 Jan, £25 to £30
Peter Pan runs at The Core Theatre from Friday 4 December to Sunday 3 January. All 39 performance times, prices, the dark dates and the two access performances.
Crime
Olton shop shut until 26 November over illegal vapes
Magistrates closed a Warwick Road convenience store on 26 August after it sold illegal tobacco and a vape to a child. It is the shop's second closure order.
Food and drink
Solihull Food Hygiene: 3 Zero Ratings, 79% Rated Five
Three Solihull premises hold a zero hygiene rating, the newest an Olton shop inspected 2 July. Two have held theirs over a year; 79% of the borough scores five.
Libraries
Solihull Libraries: 3 Get Out-of-Hours Entry From Winter
Dickens Heath, Hobs Moat and Balsall Common libraries get card-and-PIN access outside staffed hours from winter. Current hours, and how to have your say.
Planning
Solihull Planning: Mayor Could Call In 150-Home Schemes
The West Midlands mayor would be able to take over or refuse big Solihull applications from early 2027. The thresholds, and the 5 October consultation deadline.
Solihull is two boroughs in one set of boundaries. There is the town itself with Shirley, Olton, Knowle, Dorridge, Balsall Common, Hockley Heath, Meriden and Hampton-in-Arden out into the Arden countryside, and there is the north, where Chelmsley Wood, Kingshurst, Castle Bromwich and Marston Green came into the borough when it was drawn in 1974. The airport, the NEC and the Land Rover plant at Lode Lane sit in the same borough again.
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council answers for all of it. We read what it publishes, the planning register above all, and report what the documents say rather than what anyone says about them, with the source linked every time. The rest of the site is the practical information people look up week after week.
Sections
- Local Info: bin collection days, parking, council tax bands, house prices, trains to London and roadworks and travel.
- News: the public record, including planning applications across the borough and our planning news briefing.
- What’s On: things to do in Solihull, Shirley, Knowle and the villages.
Nothing is published here without a link to the document it came from.