  We show that torsion-free elementary amenable groups of Hirsch length $\leq3$
are solvable, of derived length $\leq3$. This class includes all solvable
groups of cohomological dimension 3. We show also that groups in the latter
subclass are either polycyclic, semidirect products $BS(1,n)\rtimes\mathbb{Z}$
or properly ascending HNN extensions with base $\mathbb{Z}^2$ or $\pi_1(Kb)$.
