Solihull in the context of Major's Green

The West Midlands conurbation is the large conurbation in the West Midlands region of England. The area consists of two cities and numerous towns: to the east, the city of Birmingham, along with adjacent towns of Solihull and Sutton Coldfield; and to the west, the city of Wolverhampton and the area called the Black Country, containing the towns of Dudley, Walsall, West Bromwich, Oldbury, Willenhall, Bilston, Darlaston, Tipton, Smethwick, Wednesbury, Rowley Regis, Stourbridge and Halesowen.

It is broken down into multiple Travel to Work Areas: Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Dudley & Sandwell, Walsall & Cannock, Hagley is within the Kidderminster area and the extreme south-east corner is within the Warwick & Stratford upon Avon area. The conurbation is mainly in the West Midlands county, including parts of the surrounding counties of Staffordshire (e.g. Little Aston, Perton and Essington) and Worcestershire (such as Hagley and Hollywood), with Coventry a separate area in the county.

Birmingham (/ˈbɜːrmɪŋəm/ BUR-ming-əm) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands region, in England. It is the largest local authority district in England by population and the second-largest city in Britain – commonly referred to as the second city of the United Kingdom – with a population of 1.2 million people in the city proper in 2024. Birmingham borders the Black Country to its west and, together with the city of Wolverhampton and towns including Dudley and Solihull, forms the West Midlands conurbation. The royal town of Sutton Coldfield is incorporated within the city limits to the northeast. Birmingham's urban area has a population of 2.7 million and its wider metropolitan area has a population of 4.3 million.

Located in the West Midlands region of England, Birmingham is considered to be the social, cultural, financial and commercial centre of the Midlands. It is just west of the traditional centre point of England at Meriden, and is the most inland major city in the country, lying north of the Cotswolds and east of the Shropshire Hills. Distinctively, Birmingham only has small rivers flowing through it, mainly the River Tame and its tributaries River Rea and River Cole – one of the closest main rivers is the Severn, approximately 20 miles (32 km) west of the city centre. The city does however have numerous canals, collectively named the Birmingham Canal Navigations.

Hollywood is a large village predominantly located in the Bromsgrove district of Worcestershire, England, almost contiguous with and to the south of the city of Birmingham. Hollywood was formerly part of Kings Norton, but when Birmingham expanded in 1911, Hollywood remained in Worcestershire. The village now lies across the wards of Hollywood, most of Drakes Cross, the Trueman's Heath polling district area of Trueman's Heath parish ward and, following a 1966 border change, the southern portion of the Birmingham Highter's Heath ward, with all but the latter being located within the civil parish of Wythall. The southern part of the village is also known as Drakes Cross, whilst the eastern part is sometimes referred to as Trueman's Heath. Hollywood is situated in the extreme northeastern corner of Worcestershire, 8.5mi/13km south of Birmingham city centre, 6mi/9.5km west of Solihull and 8mi/12.5km northeast of Redditch.

Warwickshire (/ˈwɒrɪkʃər, -ʃɪər/ ; abbreviated Warks) is a ceremonial county in the West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire to the south, and Worcestershire and the West Midlands county to the west. The largest settlement is Nuneaton.

The county is largely rural, with an area of 763 sq mi (1,980 km) and an estimated population of 632,207 in 2024. It contains a number of towns, including Nuneaton and Bedworth in the north-east, Rugby in the east, Stratford-upon-Avon in the south-west, and Warwick and Leamington Spa adjacent to each other in the centre. For local government purposes, Warwickshire is a non-metropolitan county with five districts. The county historically included the city of Coventry and the area to its west, including Sutton Coldfield, Solihull and the city centre of Birmingham.

West Midlands is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the larger West Midlands region of England. A landlocked county, it is bordered by Staffordshire to the north and west, Worcestershire to the south, and is almost surrounded by Warwickshire to the east. The largest settlement is the city of Birmingham.

The county has an area of 902 km (348 sq mi) and is almost entirely urban, with a population of 3,036,605 in 2024; this made it the second most populous county in England after Greater London. Birmingham is located in the centre of the county, with Solihull and the city of Coventry to the east and West Bromwich and the city of Wolverhampton to the west. Sutton Coldfield lies to the north. Nearly all of the county's settlements belong to the West Midlands and Coventry conurbations, but the "Meriden Gap" between them is rural. For local government purposes West Midlands comprises seven metropolitan boroughs: Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall, and Wolverhampton. They collaborate through the West Midlands Combined Authority. The county was historically part of Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire.

The Birmingham Metropolitan Area is an urban agglomeration located in the West Midlands region of England with a population of around 4.3 million people, making it the second largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom. It comprises the three cities (Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton) and four metropolitan boroughs (Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall) which make up the Metropolitan county of the West Midlands, along with its commuter zones, which extend into the neighbouring district authorities of Bromsgrove and Redditch in Worcestershire; Cannock Chase, Lichfield, South Staffordshire and Tamworth in Staffordshire; and all five district authorities of Warwickshire, including the towns of Bedworth, Coleshill, Nuneaton, Royal Leamington Spa, and Warwick itself.

A number of sizeable settlements fall outside the morphological boundaries of the Birmingham Metropolitan Area but still form part of its economic and infrastructural hinterland. Amongst these, the cathedral city of Lichfield, the towns of Cannock, Hednesford and Rugeley in Staffordshire, Rugby and Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, and Kidderminster in the Wyre Forest District of Worcestershire.

Meriden is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, West Midlands, England. Historically, it is part of Warwickshire and lies between the cities of Birmingham and Coventry. It is located close to the North Warwickshire district border within a green belt of the countryside known as the Meriden Gap and is in the ecclesiastical parish of the Diocese of Coventry.

The village is 7.5 miles (12 kilometres) east-northeast of Solihull, 7 miles (11 kilometres) west-northwest of Coventry and 12 miles (19 kilometres) east-southeast of Birmingham city centre. It was known as "Alspath" in the Domesday Book. The village gives its name to the Meriden parliamentary constituency, which was created in 1955 and covers the Meriden Gap. In the 2011 Census, the population of the Meriden parish was 2,719. The population is estimated to have risen to 3,096 by 2017.

The Metropolitan Borough of Solihull is a metropolitan borough in West Midlands county, England. It is named after its largest town, Solihull, from which Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council is based. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region (code UKG32) and is one of seven boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region. Much of the large residential population in the north of the borough centres on the communities of Castle Bromwich, Kingshurst, Marston Green and Smith's Wood as well as the towns of Chelmsley Wood and Fordbridge. In the south are the towns of Shirley and Solihull, as well as the large villages of Knowle, Dorridge, Meriden and Balsall Common.

Since 2011, Solihull has formed part of the Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership along with neighbouring authorities Birmingham, Bromsgrove, Cannock Chase, East Staffordshire, Lichfield, Redditch, Tamworth and Wyre Forest.

The River Blythe flows through the English Midlands from central Warwickshire, through the Borough of Solihull and on to Coleshill in north Warwickshire. It runs along the Meriden Gap in the Midlands Plateau, is fed by the River Cole and is a tributary of the River Tame beside the West Midland Bird Club's Ladywalk reserve. This then joins the River Trent, whose waters reach the North Sea via the Humber Estuary.

The river rises at various sources near Earlswood Lakes, but the principal tributary is listed as Spring Brook (52°21′03″N 1°50′37″W / 52.350915°N 1.843601°W / 52.350915; -1.843601; grid reference SP107725). From here it winds north east, skirting Cheswick Green, towards Solihull. Here it passes through a local wildlife park, Malvern and Brueton Park and Nature Reserve, where it briefly splits/outpours for approximately 250 metres to form Brueton Park Lake. From here it meanders east, past several old country houses—Old Berry Hall, Ravenshaw Hall and Eastcote Hall—before turning sharply south towards Barston, which is encircled within a large meander of the river. At Temple Balsall the Cuttle Brook feeds the river, which now arcs north, and again close by Barston. Past Hampton in Arden the river is fed by Shadow Brook, at Diddington Hall. Travelling further north it passes to the east of Coleshill, and is fed by the River Cole, only a few hundred yards before it itself feeds into the River Tame (52°31′20″N 1°41′18″W / 52.522317°N 1.688242°W / 52.522317; -1.688242; grid reference SP212916), at Ladywalk Nature Reserve.

Wythall is a large village and civil parish in the Bromsgrove District, in the northeastern corner of the county of Worcestershire, England. Wythall parish borders Solihull and Birmingham, and had a population of 12,269 in the UK census of 2021.

The civil parish was created in 1911 when the remainder of the previous King's Norton civil parish was absorbed into the then County Borough of Birmingham.

Sir George Iain Duncan Smith (born 9 April 1954), often referred to by his initials IDS, is a British politician who was Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2001 to 2003. He was Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2010 to 2016. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Chingford and Woodford Green, formerly Chingford, since 1992.

The son of W. G. G. Duncan Smith, a Royal Air Force flying-ace, Duncan Smith was born in Edinburgh and raised in Solihull. After education at the HMS Conway training school and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he served in the Scots Guards from 1975 to 1981, seeing tours in Northern Ireland and in Rhodesia. He joined the Conservative Party in 1981. After unsuccessfully contesting Bradford West in 1987, he was elected to Parliament at the 1992 general election. He was a backbencher during the premiership of John Major (in office from 1990 to 1997). In the shadow cabinet of William Hague, Duncan Smith served as Shadow Secretary of State for Social Security between 1997 and 1998, and as Shadow Secretary of State for Defence from 1998 to 2001.

The Rover Company Limited was a British car manufacturing company in independent operation between 1878 and 1967, beginning car manufacturing in 1904. It primarily operated from its base in Solihull, Warwickshire. Rover also manufactured the Land Rover series from 1948 onwards, and created the Range Rover in 1970, which went on to become its most successful and profitable product. Land Rover eventually became a separate company and brand in its own right.

Rover was bought by Leyland Motors in 1967, which had already acquired Standard-Triumph seven years earlier. Initially, Rover maintained a level of autonomy within the Leyland conglomerate, but by 1978, Leyland – by then British Leyland (BL) – had run into severe financial difficulties and had been nationalized by the British Government. Most of the assets of the former Rover Company were moved into a new BL subsidiary named Land Rover Ltd whilst the Rover marque itself continued to be used on other BL products which relied largely on Honda engineering. Nevertheless, Rover ultimately became the most prolific brand within BL and gave its name to the entire conglomerate in the form of the Rover Group in 1986, of which MG, Mini and Land Rover remained a part until the Rover Group was broken up by BMW in 2000.

The Meriden Gap is a mostly rural area in the West Midlands, England, between Solihull and Coventry. It is a part of the wider West Midlands Green Belt, separating Coventry from the large West Midlands conurbation, which includes Birmingham and The Black Country.

The 'Gap' takes its name from the village central to the area, Meriden, although the largest settlement is the small town of Balsall Common. The highest point lies at 185 metres (607 ft) above sea level on the northern edge of Boultbee's Wood north of the hamlet of Eaves Green, close to the West Midlands-Warwickshire border.

Meriden was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It was named after the village of Meriden, halfway between Solihull and Coventry.

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was abolished. Subject to boundary changes, it was reformed as new Meriden and Solihull East constituency, first contested in the 2024 general election.

Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, also known as Solihull Council, is the local authority for the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the West Midlands, England. It is a metropolitan borough council and provides the majority of local government services in the borough. The council has been a member of the West Midlands Combined Authority since 2016.

The council has been under Conservative majority control since 2011. It is based at the Council House on Manor Square in Solihull.

Kingshurst is a large post-war suburban village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, in the West Midlands, England. Historically part of the county of Warwickshire in the Meriden Rural District, It lies about 7 miles (11 km) north of Solihull town centre, 10 miles (16 km) east of Birmingham and 13 miles (21km) northwest of Coventry, it borders North Warwickshire to the east. The village is encompassed within the electoral ward Kingshurst & Fordbridge which had a population of 7,868 in the 2011 census.

Chelmsley Wood, sometimes called just Chelmsley, is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, West Midlands, England, with a population of 12,453. It is located near Birmingham Airport and the National Exhibition Centre. It lies about eight miles east of Birmingham city centre and 5 miles to the north of Solihull. The town is also close to both Coleshill and Water Orton in Warwickshire, the county the area was historically part of.

In 1966 Birmingham City Council compulsorily purchased the ancient woodland and built the 15,590 dwelling council estate to rehouse families on its council house waiting list. With the rise in unemployment in the 1970s parts of the estate suffered from deprivation and anti-social behaviour. The area established a town council.

Knowle /ˈnoʊl/ is a large village situated 3 miles (5 km) east-southeast of the town of Solihull, in the county of the West Midlands, England. Knowle lies within the Arden area of the historic county boundaries of Warwickshire, and since 1974 it has been part of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull. It lies 2.5 miles from the Warwickshire border and had a recorded population of 10,678.

Knowle is in the parliamentary constituency of Meriden and Solihull East.