Chelmsley Wood is a relatively new area, which was built in the 1960s on ancient woodland (part of the Forest of Arden) as an overspill estate for Birmingham. A shopping centre (which opened on 7 April 1970), a library, hall and a few public houses but no other leisure amenities were included. In recent years, it has tried to market itself as 'North Solihull,' but this has led to disbelief from the local people and press, perhaps because of the economical–political difference between the mostly working-class Chelmsley Wood and largely middle-class Solihull. With the adjoining neighbourhoods of Fordbridge and Smith's Wood, it became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in 1974.