Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council

Until 1932, the town of Solihull was administered as a rural parish with a parish council subordinate to the larger Solihull Rural District Council. As Solihull rapidly developed in the twentieth century, it was promoted to higher statuses within the administrative hierarchy, becoming an urban district in 1932, then a municipal borough in 1954, and then a county borough in 1964, taking over county-level functions from Warwickshire County Council.^[4]

The modern metropolitan borough and its council were established in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, as one of seven boroughs in the new metropolitan county of the West Midlands. The new borough covered the combined area of the old county borough of Solihull plus ten parishes from the Meriden Rural District and one parish (Hockley Heath) from the Stratford-on-Avon Rural District.^[5] The enlarged district was named Solihull, and the borough status previously held by the county borough passed to the new district on its creation, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor, continuing Solihull's series of mayors dating back to its first incorporation as a borough in 1954.^[6][7]

From 1974 until 1986 the council was a lower-tier authority, with upper-tier functions provided by the West Midlands County Council. The county council was abolished in 1986 and its functions passed to the county's seven borough councils, including Solihull, with some services provided through joint committees.^[8]

Since 2016 the council has been a member of the West Midlands Combined Authority, which has been led by the directly elected Mayor of the West Midlands since 2017. The combined authority provides strategic leadership and co-ordination for certain functions across the county, but Solihull Council continues to be responsible for most local government functions.^[9][10]

Solihull Council provides metropolitan borough services. Some strategic functions in the area are provided by the West Midlands Combined Authority; the leader and deputy leader of the council sit on the board of the combined authority as Solihull's representatives.^[11] Parts of the borough are covered by civil parishes, which form an additional tier of local government for their areas.^[12]

Since the last boundary changes in 2004, the council has comprised 51 councillors representing 17 wards, with each ward electing three councillors. Elections are held three years out of every four, with a third of the council (one councillor for each ward) elected each time for a four-year term of office.^[38]

The council is based at the Council House on Manor Square in the centre of Solihull and adjoining buildings, notably including Church Hill House and the Civic Suite. The latter includes the council chamber and forms part of the same building as the town's register office. Church Hill House was completed in 1967 and the Civic Suite followed in 1968, both being purpose-built for the old borough council.^[39][40] The Council House (originally called Orchard House) was subsequently built in front of Church Hill House, opening in 1989.^[41][42]