Solihull

 town, draw only border, parliamantary constituency (UK)

Solihull is a town in the West Midlands of England with a population of 94,753. It is a part of the West Midlands conurbation and is located 9 miles (14.5 km) southeast of Birmingham city centre. It is the largest town in, and administrative centre of, the larger Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, which itself has a population of 200,400, and within which the old county borough of Solihull now constitutes a modern civil town/parish area(see attached polygon).

Historically part of Warwickshire, Solihull is one of the most prosperous towns in the English Midlands.Residents of Solihull and those born in the town are referred to as Silhillians. The motto of Solihull is "Urbs in Rure" (Town in Country - see coat of arms above).

In 1901, the population of the town was just 7,500. However, by the 1960s, the population had grown to over 100,000. This growth was due to a number of factors including a large slum clearance programme in Birmingham, the development of the Rover car plant, the expansion of what was then Elmdon Airport into Birmingham International Airport and, perhaps most significantly, the release of large tracts of land for housing development attracting inward migration of new residents from across the UK.

Until the early 1960s, the main high street remained much as it would have been in the late 19th century with several streets of Victorian terraced houses linking High Street with Warwick Road. The construction of the central shopping area known as Mell Square (named after W. Maurice Mell, the town clerk who planned the work) involved the demolition of properties in Mill Lane and Drury Lane, some of which were several hundred years old, together with that of the large Victorian Congregational Church that had stood on the corner of Union Street and Warwick Road.

Due to its growth, Solihull was promoted from an urban district to a municipal borough, the honour being bestowed by Princess Margaret.In 1964, Solihull became a county borough and on this occasion the Queen bestowed the honour. In 1974, the Solihull county borough was merged with the rural district surrounding Meriden to form the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull (see outline map above). This also includes the districts known as Shirley, Knowle, Dorridge, Balsall Common, Castle Bromwich and Chelmsley Wood. At this time it also moved from the county of Warwickshire to the West Midlands.

Solihull town has several suburbs including Solihull Lodge, Blossomfield, Haslucks Green, Sharmans Cross, Shirley (considered a sub-town of Solihull), Shirley Heath, Hillfield, Monkspath, Widney Manor, Olton and Lode Heath.

for more on history of Solihull see @:
www.solihull.gov.uk/localhistory/16425.htm

for detailed inter-active on-line large-scale map on Solihull M.B.C. website (used in drawing attached polygon) see @:
lvmapping.solihull.gov.uk/LocalViewPublic/Sites/mylocal...