The 2010 Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 6 May 2010 to elect members of

Solihull Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe i ...

Metropolitan Borough A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan districts within metropolitan ...

Council in the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.

Campaign

Before the election the council was run by the Conservatives, but without an overall majority after Castle Bromwich

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

, Ian Hillas, had defected to

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in 2009. 2 sitting councillors stood down at the election, Liberal Democrat Bob Reeves from Lyndon ward and the British National Party's George Morgan from Chelmsley Wood ward. 17 seats were contested in the election with candidates from the Conservative Party, Liberal Democrats, Labour Party,

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

and British National Party. There was also a new party contesting 15 of the 17 seats, the Solihull and Meriden Residents' Association. This was formed by a number of independents in response to a council tax rise of 2.5% and to address what they saw as a loss of democracy in local council politics. Among the candidates for the Solihull and Meriden Residents' Association was Trevor Eames a former Independent Ratepayer councillor for 18 years, who had resigned from the council after being jailed for 7 years, but who said he wanted to serve as councillor as "recompense". The only independent candidate Neil Watts was on the ballot paper and described in the press as an independent, but was endorsed as a candidate for the Solihull and Meridan Residents Association. The Solihull and Meriden Residents' Association wanted to have local

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

s, reduce councillors pay and have local council officers deal with

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and

flytipping Illegal dumping, also called fly dumping or fly tipping ( UK), is the dumping of waste illegally instead of using an authorized method such as curbside collection or using an authorized rubbish dump. It is the illegal deposit of any waste onto ...

. Other issues in the election included the removal of maternity services from Solihull, preserving green space and the future of Jaguar Land Rover.

Election result

The results saw no party win a majority on the council after the Conservatives lost 2 seats to have 23 councillors. The Liberal Democrats had 19 seats after gaining

Elmdon :''See also, Elmdon, West Midlands.'' Elmdon is a village in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England, near the boundary with Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire. The hilly topography of the area differentiates it from countryside to the north, w ...

from the Conservatives defeating

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member Ken Hawkins by 128 votes. Labour gained

Kingshurst Kingshurst is a post-war housing estate and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, in the West Midlands. It lies about east of Birmingham city centre. Smith's Wood borders it to the north and east, Fordbridge to the south and th ...

and

Fordbridge Fordbridge is a civil parish in England between Kingshurst and Chelmsley Wood in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, which is in the West Midlands and also part of the West Midlands conurbation. It is east of Birmingham city centre. It has ...

ward from the Conservatives by 110 votes and also took Chelmsley Wood from the British National Party finishing ahead of the Green Party candidate by just 22 votes. Chelmsley Wood had been the British National Party's only seat, while the results meant Labour held 7 seats after the election. The Solihull and Meriden Residents' Association failed to win any seats, with their most high-profile candidate Trevor Eames coming third in Shirley South. Following the election the Liberal Democrat and Labour parties formed a coalition to run the council, with Liberal Democrat Ian Hedley being elected leader of the council with 26 of the 51 votes on 25 May. This result had the following consequences for the total number of seats on the council after the elections :

Ward results

By-elections between 2010 and 2011

References

{{United Kingdom local elections, 2010 2010 English local elections May 2010 events in the United Kingdom

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

2010s in the West Midlands (county)