Last Saturday marked 100 days since the local elections that ended the Conservatives' 15-year unbroken majority on Solihull Council. The party now runs a minority administration, and while much has been business as usual, opposition parties have ensured the ruling group does not have it all their own way.
Conservative leader Councillor Karen Grinsell told the Local Democracy Reporting Service after the elections that she intended to run the council as a minority administration. That is what has transpired, with the Conservatives moving forward with the major Mell Square transformation, pushing for action on anti-social behaviour in Solihull town centre, and announcing that government intervention in the authority's children's services had officially ended.
Opposition Takes Scrutiny Roles
But opposition leaders had warned there had to be a change of thinking. This quickly became apparent in the election of chairmen and vice chairmen of scrutiny groups on the authority. Typically, Conservative councillors had been elected to both positions, but that has changed.
For example, the stronger communities scrutiny board elected a Reform UK councillor as chairman; the health and adult social care scrutiny board elected a Green Party councillor as chairperson; and a Liberal Democrat councillor became chairman of the governance committee. That same Liberal Democrat, Councillor James Bradley, also became vice chairman of the authority's vital planning committee.
Reform UK Makes Its Mark
Meanwhile, councillors in the Reform UK group, which became the second largest group on the authority after the elections, have been setting out their stall. Its councillors have already asked tough questions over the new fortnightly bin collections in the council chamber, were involved in a successful campaign to save Solihull police station, and last week raised whether the hanging of flags on lampposts in the borough would be allowed to continue.
But it hasn't all been smooth sailing for Reform UK. Last month, Councillor David Hoey defected from the party to join the ruling Conservative group. That early shock defection means the Conservatives are now short by just one of having a majority, ahead of Solihull Council's next elections scheduled for May 2027.
