[2] In the south are the towns of Shirley and Solihull, as well as the large villages of Knowle, Dorridge, Meriden and Balsall Common.

The parish church was built on a hill of stiff red marl, which turned to sticky mud in wet weather.

It included Balsall Common, Barston, Berkswell, Bickenhill, Castle Bromwich, Chelmsley Wood, Elmdon, Fordbridge, Hampton in Arden, Hockley Heath, Kingshurst, Knowle, Marston Green, Meriden, Olton, Smiths Wood, Solihull, Shirley and Temple Balsall.

It remains part of the West Midlands for ceremonial purposes, and for functions such as police, fire and public transport.

A short automatic light transport system links the airport to the nearby Birmingham International railway station.

Each ward is represented by three councillors: The constituent parts of the borough's coat of arms are: A stylised version of the coat of arms can be seen on the top left of Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council's website pages, and the official, heraldic version appears on a dedicated page on the same site – external links below.

[9][10] Analysis also shows Solihull as having the lowest (and fastest falling) claimant count for Jobseeker's Allowance in the region.

[11] The current Flybe airline maintains its head office on the second floor of Diamond House on the property of Birmingham Airport.

[12] This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Solihull at current basic prices published (pp.