Full Council backed Solihull's Local Plan on 6 October. Six weeks of comments on its 21,913 homes open soon, and Green Belt near stations is not lifted automatically.
Solihull’s new Local Plan has cleared its last council vote. Full Council endorsed the Draft Submission Plan on Tuesday 6 October, which lets it go out for six weeks of formal public comment.
Council leader Karen Grinsell confirmed the decision in her weekly column on Friday. “On Tuesday, Full Council endorsed the latest draft, enabling it to move forward to a six-week consultation,” she wrote. She said details would follow “over the coming weeks”. (Karen’s Column, 9 October 2026)
The council has not yet published the minutes, so the voting figures are not on the record. We will add them when they are.
What the plan does
The plan sets out where Solihull’s homes and jobs go until 2043. Our earlier reports cover it in detail. The main numbers are:
- 21,913 homes over 17 years, the government’s figure of 1,289 a year
- a stepped target: 400 homes a year to 2028, 967 a year to 2033, then 1,628 a year to 2043
- 8,219 homes in broad areas around railway stations, the biggest at Shirley, Whitlock’s End and Wythall (1,577), Berkswell (1,350) and Hampton in Arden (1,350)
- 4,877 homes on allocated sites, led by Barratt’s Farm in Balsall Common (1,160)
(Cabinet update note, 29 September 2026)
The Green Belt answer councillors asked for
Before the vote, the council’s scrutiny board asked for four assurances. Cabinet accepted them, and officers answered each in an update report to Full Council. (Update report to Full Council, 6 October 2026)
The one most residents will care about is the Green Belt. Councillors wanted to know whether land around stations, and so-called grey belt land, would come out of the Green Belt simply by the plan being adopted.
The answer is no, with three exceptions. Adopting the plan does not remove Green Belt status from land inside the broad station areas, the report says, except where that land is:
- a specific site proposed for allocation in the plan
- a site that already has planning permission
- inside the existing built-up part of Tidbury Green, because the village is being taken out of the Green Belt
So most of the land inside the broad areas stays Green Belt. Each scheme there would still need its own planning case.
The other three answers were shorter:
- Evidence: the evidence base has been reviewed, and the council has said which documents support the plan and when any others will be updated.
- Cumulative impact: the combined effect of developments will be assessed when individual planning applications are decided, “where relevant”.
- Neighbouring councils: work with neighbouring authorities on growth near the boundary will continue.
National rules are already moving faster
The plan is not the only route onto Green Belt fields. A revised National Planning Policy Framework took effect on 17 August 2026. It lets councils treat some Green Belt land near well-connected stations as suitable for homes, case by case.
It has already been used here. Nine homes on a Green Belt field off Widney Manor Road, a five-minute walk from the station, went to the Planning Committee last week and were approved, with the decision issued on Monday. Our Widney Manor Road report explains how.
What happens next
- In the coming weeks: the plan is published for six weeks of comment. The council report said this would be before the end of October, once the consultation portal is set up. (Report to Full Council)
- By 31 December 2026: the plan goes to the government, the deadline for plans under the old system.
- Then: a planning inspector examines it in public hearings.
What it means for you
- This consultation is your formal say. Comments at this stage go to the inspector. They need to name a policy or site and say why it is not “sound” or legally compliant, and what would fix it.
- Living near a station area does not mean the field behind you is now building land. Only the allocated sites and sites with permission change status when the plan is adopted.
- Watch the start date. Six weeks is short. We will publish the opening date and the link to the portal as soon as the council does.
The council’s emerging Local Plan page will carry the documents. New applications are tracked on our Solihull planning news page, and the background is in our reports on the Cabinet decision and the draft plan.
Sources: Karen’s Column, 9 October 2026; Full Council agenda and papers, 6 October 2026; Update report to Full Council; Cabinet update note, 29 September 2026.
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