The 1986 Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council elections were held on Thursday, 8 May 1986, with one third of the council to be elected. The Conservatives retained control of the council. Voter turnout was 34.6%.[1] [2]
|- style="background-color:#F9F9F9"! style="background-color: " || Independent Ratepayers & Residents | align="right" | 2| align="right" | 2| align="right" | 0| align="right" | +2| align="right" | 11.8| align="right" | 8.3| align="right" | 4,503| align="right" | +0.2|-
This result had the following consequences for the total number of seats on the council after the elections:
| valign=top colspan="2" style="width: 230px" | Party | valign=top style="width: 30px" | Previous council | valign=top style="width: 30px" | New council |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservatives | 33 | 29 | |||
| Labour | 13 | 14 | |||
| Independent Ratepayers & Residents | 4 | 6 | |||
| Alliance | 1 | 2 | |||
| Total | 51 | 51 | |||
| Working majority | |||||
|- style="background-color:#F6F6F6"! style="background-color: " || colspan="2" | Independent Residents gain from Conservative| align="right" | Swing| align="right" | -0.8|-
|- style="background-color:#F6F6F6"! style="background-color: " || colspan="2" | Independent Residents & Ratepayers gain from Conservative| align="right" | Swing| align="right" | +4.5|-