• Nature Conservation Group
• Recreation group
• Recreation audit
• Research group
• Water quality group

Solent Forum Recreation Audit

The Forum has produced a Recreational Audit Flyer that you can download for more information (pdf file).

This Audit is an ongoing review of water-based recreational activity in and on the Solent (from Hurst Castle to Selsey Beach and the north coast of the Isle of Wight) and will count the capacity and levels of activity in the region. It aims to provide a database of information that can be easily accessed to help inform crucial decisions and debates such as, “how full is full?”

It will:

• Provide quantitative data that makes no impact assessment or interpretation.
• Compare actual usage with current capacity.
• Provide quantitative data on type, intensity and location of activity, identifying seasonal variations.
• Provide replicable survey data capable of linking with the Solent Forum ‘State of the Solent’ indicators.
• Present information both in report format and in appropriate electronic and graphical formats. This may include SPSS, Excel, map overlays and GIS where possible.
• Provide qualitative and quantitative data from a user profile survey.

Phase One

A ‘desk-based’ phase when the research team will gather and collate information to form a ‘count’ of such things as:

• Size of craft on moorings, in marinas or storage, maximum capacities and actual take-up of capacity.
• Number of organisations and membership levels of clubs, activity centres, uniformed groups, etc.
• Levels of participation – historical (clubs, associations & events).
• Establish standard units of measurement that can be used to present the data from the various sources in a common format and provide a straight forward counting system.
• Map collected data and identify suitable locations for Phase Two data gathering
• Use existing data to identify seasonal variations to provide a year round picture of usage.
• Identify ‘data blind-spots’.
• Phase One will be used to produce an interim report and workshop which will be used to inform the methods and tools to be used in Phase Two.

Phase Two

Phase Two will focus on ‘real-time’ user-based surveys and ‘observer’ recordings and will also include any follow-up requests for current time period data from other sources. The data gathering will be conducted on a number of pre-determined survey days. The current expectation is that there will be one summer and autumn day but a spring and winter day might be required.