What a Council Is (and Isn’t) Solihull Council explained

​Local councils make decisions that affect everyday life — from planning and transport to adult social care, children’s services, and local spending.
This site explains how Solihull Council works: who holds power, how decisions are made, what scrutiny is meant to do, and where accountability can break down.
While examples are drawn from Solihull Council, the structures and processes described here apply to most borough, metropolitan, and county councils in England, particularly those facing full elections in 2026.

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What a Council Is (and Isn’t) Solihull Council explained

​Local councils are often blamed for things they do not control — and let off the hook for things they do.
This page sets out, plainly, what Solihull Council is responsible for, what it is not, and what councillors are actually elected to do.

What a council is.
​A council is a local decision-making body. It exists to:

• provide local public services
• make decisions about how local money is spent
• set policies that affect everyday life in the area

At Solihull Council, this includes decisions about:

• planning and development
• highways and local transport
• adult social care
• children’s services
• housing services and homelessness
• waste collection and recycling
• local grants, contracts, and spending priorities

Councils are not just service providers. They are political bodies, made up of elected councillors who are meant to make choices, debate options, and be accountable to the public.

What a council is notA council is not in charge of everything that happens locally.
For example, Solihull Council does not control:

• the NHS (hospitals, GPs, most healthcare)
• the police (beyond limited partnerships and oversight)
• the courts or criminal justice system
• national taxes or benefit levels
• immigration or border policy
• most school curricula

When something goes wrong in these areas, it may affect local residents — but it is not something councillors can fix by voting on it.
Understanding this matters, because it stops frustration being misdirected.

What councillors are elected to doCouncillors are not staff. They are elected representatives.
They are elected to:

• make decisions on council policy and spending
• vote in meetings and committees
• represent the views of their communities
• question and challenge decisions
• hold the council leadership and senior officers to account

At Solihull Council, councillors do this through:

• Full Council meetings
• Cabinet or committee votes
• scrutiny committees
• questions, motions, and debates

This is why who is elected matters — even when councils say they are “apolitical”.

What councillors are notCouncillors are not:

• council employees
• service managers
• social workers
• planning officers
• case handlers

They do not run departments day-to-day.
That work is done by paid officers, led by the Chief Executive and senior directors.
When councillors blur this line — or are prevented from challenging officers — accountability weakens.

Why this distinction mattersIf you do not know:

• what the council controls,
• who makes which decisions, and
• where responsibility really sits,

then it becomes very easy for:

• blame to be shifted
• scrutiny to be avoided
• elections to feel meaningless

This guide exists to make those lines visible.

What this guide focuses on nextThe pages that follow explain:

• who runs Solihull Council in practice
• how decisions are made
• how scrutiny is meant to work
• what residents can and cannot do to challenge decisions

All using Solihull Council as a real-world example — but in ways that apply to most councils in England.

Does this only apply to Solihull?This page uses Solihull Council as its example.
The same basic structure applies to most borough, metropolitan, and county councils in England.
In many cases, the council name can simply be substituted.

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