Solihull is a borough of front drives. Shirley and Olton were built out in the 1920s and 1930s with semis that already had room for a car, Knowle and Dorridge have detached houses on long plots with gravel sweeps and five-bar gates, and Monkspath, Cheswick Green and Dickens Heath are newer estates where the builder put the parking in from day one. That changes the typical job: fewer first-time conversions than in inner Birmingham, more replacements of tired 1980s block paving, resin over old tarmac, and new gates and fences on bigger boundaries.
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council is the highway and planning authority for almost the whole patch. The Birmingham side of B37 (Tile Cross and Glebe Farm) and a small part of B92 near Sheldon are Birmingham City Council, which has a different kerb process.
Ground and Gate passes each enquiry to one local specialist who works across Solihull. They visit, measure and agree the price with you; we never carry out work ourselves.
Conservation areas and Article 4 directions
Solihull has 20 conservation areas, and most of those that contain homes are in this patch: Solihull town centre, Malvern Hall and Brueton Avenue, Malvern Park Farm, Ashleigh Road, Grove Avenue, Granville Road, Warwick Road, White House Way, Olton, Knowle, Station Approach Dorridge, Hampton-in-Arden, Walsall End, Barston, Temple Balsall and Bickenhill. The council's online Conservation, Heritage and Enforcement map shows the boundaries.
The council says three areas in the borough carry Article 4 Directions. White House Way is one; its direction brings doors, windows and exterior painting under control. Where a direction covers front boundaries or hard surfaces, a new wall, gate or driveway that would normally need no application will need one.
Even without an Article 4 Direction, demolishing a front wall or railing over 1 metre in a conservation area needs consent. Ashleigh Road, Grove Avenue and the Malvern Park streets have Edwardian and interwar houses behind low walls and planted fronts, and a planning officer will want to see those kept where possible.
House types and what they mean for the work
Shirley, Olton and Elmdon: 1930s semis with a side drive running to a garage, often shared with next door for the first few metres. Front gardens are 7 to 9 metres deep, so a two-car frontage is realistic once the lawn goes.
Knowle, Dorridge, Bentley Heath and Hockley Heath: detached houses on large, often irregular plots backing onto fields. Drives of 80m² or more are common, as are long post-and-rail and featheredge boundaries against farmland.
Monkspath, Cheswick Green, Dickens Heath and Blythe Valley fringes: 1980s to 2010s estates. Many were given planning conditions or deed covenants to keep front gardens open-plan, which can stop you putting up a front fence or gate even though planning law would otherwise allow it.
Chelmsley Wood, Kingshurst and Smith's Wood: 1960s and 1970s estates with open-plan fronts, rear parking courts and footpaths between blocks. Some houses have no vehicle access to the front at all.
Boundary walls and local materials
Older Knowle and Hampton-in-Arden properties have walls in the local red sandstone, soft and weathered, often capped with brick. Matching new stone is expensive, and repairs usually reuse what is there. The 1930s streets of Shirley and Olton use red facing brick with a brick-on-edge coping; the newer estates use buff or multi-red bricks to match the house. When rebuilding a front wall, ask the specialist to match brick size and mortar, not just colour.
Low garden walls under a metre cost £150–£250 per metre; anything higher, or retaining soil, is priced after a visit. Fence heights: 2 metres at the rear, 1 metre beside a road or footway, without planning permission. On estates with open-plan covenants, check the deeds before any front boundary goes up.
Fencing and gates in Solihull
Rural-edge plots in Knowle, Dorridge and Hockley Heath often have long field boundaries where post and rail at £40–£65 per metre, sometimes with stock netting, does the job better than panels. Closer to town, the request is usually featheredge on concrete posts at £95–£135 per metre, or slatted screening at £130–£190 for a modern garden. The fence cost per metre guide shows how height and post type change the rate, and the new fence page explains what is included.
Gates are a large part of the work here. A pair of timber gates across a Dorridge drive costs £900–£1,800 and metal £1,500–£3,500, before automation; electric gates always get a site visit and must meet BS EN 12453 with safety edges or photocells. See driveway gates.
On a Shirley semi, a replacement side gate at £250–£450 in timber is the common small job. Decking suits the long, flat Solihull back gardens: timber at £120–£200 per m², composite at £200–£300; see decking. More on the Solihull fencing and gates page.
Local questions
Can my driveway firm lower the kerb in Solihull?
No. Solihull only allows its own highways contractor to build vehicle crossings. Your firm lays the drive; the council lowers the kerb after you have paid the £210 administration fee and the construction balance. Birmingham addresses in Tile Cross and Glebe Farm follow Birmingham's process instead.
My Dickens Heath house has an open-plan front. Can I fence it?
Check two things: the planning permission for the estate, which may have removed the right to put up front boundaries, and your deeds, which may carry a covenant. Either can stop a front fence that would otherwise be permitted. The council's planning team can tell you about conditions; a solicitor can read the covenant.
Will a soakaway work on Solihull clay?
Sometimes, but not reliably. A percolation test shows how quickly water drains. If it is too slow, the specialist can use a permeable surface that stores water in the sub-base, or run a channel to a lawn or border.
Do I need consent to change my front wall in Olton or Knowle?
In the Olton and Knowle conservation areas, taking down a front wall over 1 metre needs consent, and a new wall or gate over 1 metre by the road needs planning permission anywhere. Outside those areas, rebuilding a low wall to the same height is usually fine.