Solihull & district · Local news you can trust
Cabinet backed Solihull's Local Plan on 29 September with a stepped target: 400 homes a year until 2028, rising to 1,628. Full Council votes on Tuesday 6 October.
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Schools
Ruckleigh School Company in Liquidation After Closure
The company behind Ruckleigh School, which closed in July after 117 years, went into creditors' liquidation on 22 September. Who to call if you are owed money.
Crime
Smith's Wood Crypto Robbery: £10,000 Reward Offered
Crimestoppers offers up to £10,000 over a December raid in Smith's Wood where a couple were made to transfer cryptocurrency. What police know, and how to help.
Events
What's On in Solihull: Pumpkins, Then Bonfire Night
Pumpkin picking in Meriden from 17 October, lantern walks at Castle Bromwich in half term, then the Round Table fireworks at Tudor Grange Park on 7 November.
Council
Solihull Free Advice: Citizens Advice Takes Over From 1 Oct
Solihull's free advice service passes to Citizens Advice on 1 October, with venues promised in all 17 wards. Help starts by phone; venues open in phases.
Property
Solihull House Prices: £337,112 in July, Rise Slows to 3.3%
Solihull's average home cost £337,112 in July, the second highest on record. The yearly rise slowed to 3.3% after June was revised up to a record £337,526.
Planning
Solihull Local Plan: 23,091 Homes to 2043, Vote on 6 Oct
Solihull's final draft Local Plan needs 1,289 homes a year, 58% more than in 2020, with 8,219 near railway stations. Cabinet backed it; Full Council votes 6 Oct.
Remembrance
Solihull Remembrance Sunday 2026: Parades and Closures
Remembrance Sunday is 8 November 2026. Last year nine Solihull parades closed roads from 10am, from Knowle to Castle Bromwich. The 2026 list is due in October.
Christmas
Santa in Solihull 2026: Grottos, Shows and Breakfasts
Where to see Santa in Solihull this Christmas: a show at The Core from £11.50, Santa breakfasts in Meriden, a woodland train grotto and Touchwood's grotto.
Christmas
Packwood House Christmas 2026: 28 Nov to 3 Jan, £12
Packwood House is dressed for Christmas from 28 November to 3 January. Winter entry is £12 an adult; it closes 24 and 25 December but opens on Boxing Day.
Kingshurst
Kingshurst Village Centre: £23.9m Phase 2 Approved
Cabinet approved the £23.9m Kingshurst health, library and retail building on 17 September. Building starts before the year ends, and 47 more homes follow.
Council
Solihull Council Budget Report Names Section 114 Risk
Solihull's own Cabinet report says its section 151 officer may have to consider a Section 114 notice for 2027/28. July's overspend is £1.48m on a £244m budget.
Crime
Solihull Murder: Man Charged Over Shustoke Road Death
Kevin Johnson, 38, of Birmingham is charged with the murder of Stuart Nash in Shustoke Road. He is due at Birmingham Crown Court on 24 September.
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.
Nothing is published here without a link to the document it came from.