‘Operation Petrol’ stops criminals in their tracks

Operation Petrol saw its sixth community Multi-Agency Vehicle Exercise (MAVE) today (20th July). MAVEs are a joint agency tactic to deny criminals the use of the road. A range of partners have taken part including Driver Vehicle Standards Agency, West Midlands Police, Immigration, Trading Standards, HM Warrants Officers and Solihull Council Licensing. So far MAVEs…

Continue reading »

Construction is well underway for Carluccio’s Italian restaurant in Solihull

Mell Square is to get a giant Carluccio’s restaurant as part of wide-ranging plans to transform Solihull town centre. The Italian restaurant, which already has venues in Brindleyplace and Grand Central, will front a new four-storey building at Mell Square shopping centre. It replaces former Thomas Cook and Johnson’s Dry Cleaners stores, which have been…

Continue reading »

Birmingham and Solihull speed camera switch-on delayed until August

New ASE cameras in Birmingham and Solihull were set to be switched-on on Monday 18th July – but this has had to be postponed after heavy rain showers made testing impossible. The average speed enforcement cameras will now be turned-on on Monday 8th August. Councillor Stewart Stacey, Cabinet Member for Transport and Roads at Birmingham…

Continue reading »

Solihull students scale new heights and battle the elements for Duke of Edinburgh Award

Five school children from Solihull have scaled new heights and battled the elements to complete a two-day expedition in the Peak District and achieve their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award. Jack Rigby, Jack Cope, Marcell Morris, Ben Hales, and Ryan Brown, aged between 14 and 16, attend schools in the north of Solihull and have…

Continue reading »

Large tree branch crashes onto car in Solihull – driver avoids serious injury

A driver was lucky to escape serious injury after a large branch came crashing down on their car in Solihull. The car was travelling down Silhill Hall Road just before 2pm on Tuesday (12th July), when the branch from an oak tree smashed onto the car and broke off into pieces. Eight firefighters from Solihull…

Continue reading »

Good Samaritan helps police catch suspected dangerous off-road bike rider following collision in Dorridge

Off-road bikes have been seized by police after a Good Samaritan helped catch a suspected dangerous rider who fled following a collision in Dorridge. West Midlands Police has praised the member of the public who made a citizen’s arrest after a pedestrian was hit by one of the bikes. Two off-road bikes are believed to…

Continue reading »

BookBench trail launched at The Core in Solihull

The Deputy Mayor of Solihull, Councillor Glenis Slater, has officially launched the BookBench trail at The Core in Solihull. The BookBench trail is part of The Big Read – a unique arts project designed to promote literacy development – featuring benches shaped as open books. Following on from the success of last year’s ‘The Big…

Continue reading »

Solihull air cadet finishes at top after six years of service

Last Sunday, 20-year-old Cadet Warrant Officer Alex Edwards finished as top cadet at Solihull 492 Squadron Air Training Corps after six years of service. Alex joined Solihull Air Cadets in October 2010 at the age of 14, along with several others, as part of the squadrons regular recruit intake – he was quickly identified as…

Continue reading »

National Express brings ‘contactless’ to West Midlands buses

National Express West Midlands is fitting every one of its 1,500 buses with state-of-the-art contactless technology. It has signed a multi-million pound deal for ticket machines that can take bank cards, smartphones and smart watches, as well as cash and Swift smartcards. The first ticket machines will be appearing on buses in Coventry at the…

Continue reading »

Community ‘scrums’ together to clean up care scheme’s gardens

Greenhill Way Extra Care in Shirley received the first step in a transformation of its gardens thanks to members of the community who joined forces to clean it up. Members of Birmingham Moseley Rugby Club, Solihull Police, Greenhill Way Street Association and Solihull Council teamed up to spruce up the gardens for the elderly residents…

Continue reading »