SLP KDBH Extracts - Flipbook - Page 8
Our Borough
Overview of the Borough
23.
Solihull Metropolitan Borough is located on the southern edge of the West Midlands
conurbation, between Birmingham and the Black Country to the west and Coventry to the
east. It is bound to the north by the rural area of North Warwickshire and to the south, by
rural Bromsgrove, Stratford and Warwick. The Borough is renowned for its key economic
assets and strategic transport infrastructure both of regional and national significance; its
attractive environment and quality of life; aspirational housing and excellent schools. All of
which mean that Solihull is a desirable place in which to live, work and invest. Together,
these elements combine to establish Solihull’s character of ‘town in country’ living up to the
Borough’s motto: “Urbs in Rure”.
24.
Solihull is part of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership
(GBSLEP), a partnership led by key businesses and local authorities to drive sustainable
growth and job creation. Solihull is also a constituent member of the West Midlands
Combined Authority (WMCA). The Combined Authority has a Strategic Economic Plan
(SEP) which sets out how devolved powers and resources will be used to deliver a stronger
West Midlands with a focus on skills, innovation, transport and inward investment.
Development at Birmingham Airport and the arrival of HS2, will help make Solihull and the
West Midlands region a world class business location.
25.
Solihull is at the heart of the national rail and motorway network with direct rail services to
London, Birmingham and the north along the West Coast and Chiltern Mainlines and has
excellent access to other regions in the UK through the M42, which links the Borough to the
M6 at the northern boundary of the Borough and the M40 to the south. This strategic
transport infrastructure, together with Birmingham Airport, has ensured the Borough is the
principal national and international gateway to the GBSLEP area and the wider West
Midlands area.
Historical Development
26.
The development of Solihull was highly influenced by the arrival of the railway stations and
the 20th Century expansion of Birmingham south-eastwards. The area now known as
Solihull Borough was predominantly rural with small historic towns and villages of medieval
origin or earlier at Solihull, Meriden, Berkswell, Barston, Hampton-in-Arden, Knowle and
Bickenhill until the end of the 19th Century, when Birmingham began to expand into rural
Olton, with houses overlooking Olton Mere. Shirley originally developed from a scattered
heathland settlement serving the road from Birmingham to Winchester via Oxford.
Development of the Grand Union and Stratford-Upon-Avon canals and the railways also
occurred during the Georgian and early Victorian periods, respectively.
27.
The Rural Area once formed part of a huge area of wood pasture and ancient farm lands
known as Arden and evidence of previous woodland, commons and heaths are often shown
in local place names. There were also a number of manor houses and halls associated with
large parks situated within the Rural Area, for example, parkland associated with Berkswell
Hall was once part of a medieval deer park. Much of the woodland has now been cleared
and the landscape character is predominantly agricultural, characterised by a variety of
fieldscapes from older, irregular piecemeal enclosure to larger planned enclosure and very
large post-war fields.
28.
Large settlement expansion from Birmingham into Solihull occurred between 1900 and 1955,
particularly during the inter-war period. This resulted in the development of semi-detached
housing estates at Lyndon, Olton, Elmdon and Shirley stretching towards Solihull and, to a
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