Balsall Common is a large village in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, England. It is situated west of Coventry, east of Solihull and to the southeast of Birmingham, to which it serves as a prosperous commuter village. It is currently undergoing gradual suburbanisation and is increasingly considered as a small town in terms of its population. The name “Balsall” comes from the Anglo Saxon word “Baelle” meaning corner of land, and “Heale” meaning a sheltered place The village is split between the civil parishes of Balsall, which also includes Balsall Street, Temple Balsall, and Fen End, and had a population of 7,039 according to the 2011 census. It also lies on the Heart of England Way. The village is of recent origin; most of the houses and shops were built in the 20th century. Previously, the village consisted of a couple of hamlets of about six to twelve houses each and a few scattered cottages - as shows. In the 1930s, there began the development which linked these isolated buildings, but it was not until after World War II that the village really began to grow. With its close proximity to the village of Meriden away, which until recently was long-believed to be the geographic centre of England, Balsall Common is perceived to be one of the furthest places from the UK coastline. In fact, Coton-in-the-Elms in south Derbyshire holds this designation, situated 23.5 miles to the north. Nevertheless, Balsall Common's secondary school is named the Heart of England School. The localprimary school is named . It is served by Berkswell railway station on the Coventry-Birmingham line, and by bus to Solihull. Other nearby towns and villages include Knowle, Kenilworth, Warwick, Hampton-in-Arden, Berkswell, Barston, Honiley and Hatton. Since the late-1990s, plans for a bypass, a large national supermarket and larger swathes of new housing have so far been circumvented. This is mainly due to Balsall Common being situated at the heart of the West Midlands green belt area known as the Meriden Gap, between Solihull and Coventry, and is thus subject to strict planning regulations. Therefore, the village/town has so far not witnessed rapid growth given its location, as residents had long-feared that the village would act as a population overspill centre for Coventry, Solihull and Birmingham. A new Tesco Metro store opened in December 2014 on Station Road.
