Lichfield Christmas markets 2026: the Fayre is 15 November

Lichfield is a small cathedral city with three spires and a district wrapped around it. Burntwood, a few miles west, is nearly as big and came up through mining rather than through the church. Beyond them are Alrewas, Shenstone, Whittington, Armitage, Fradley and the villages towards the Trent.

Lichfield Today reports from the district’s own paperwork. In a place this size the planning register is often where the month’s biggest story is sitting, along with licensing notices, committee papers and council spending. All of it is published and hardly any of it is read. We read it and write down what it says, with a link to the document on every fact.

What is on here

• House prices: the district average was £337,175 in May 2026, up 4.5% in a year, with Burntwood about £85,000 behind the city.
• Trains to London: 1 hour 16 minutes at best from Trent Valley, £8,360 a year for the cheapest season, and the £4 car park most commuters miss.
• Roadworks and travel: the A38 slip road at Streethay stays shut until April 2027, plus the two county schemes running now.
• Planning: the housing target has gone from 289 homes a year to 746, and the district can show 3.5 years of land.
• Things to do: the cathedral is free, Erasmus Darwin House is £5, and Beacon Park has three new padel courts.
• News and What’s On carry the week’s stories and events.

Lichfield today: what is booked in

The dates already fixed for the rest of the year, each on a page that carries the source:

And the three things people look up all year:

• Bin collection days: garden waste is £42.50, bulky starts at £20, and both tips have a closed day.
• Parking: £2.10 all day on a Sunday or bank holiday in the city car parks, free at Beacon Park then, and free in Burntwood always.
• Council tax bands: band D in the city is £2,369.25 for 2026/27, up 4.10%, with the full A to H table for all 26 parishes.

Nothing goes up without a link to its source.