‘The Overfalls’ is a series of offshore sand and gravel banks approximately 12 miles south of Chichester Harbour entrance, some 10 miles to the east of the southern tip of the Isle of Wight, and within the Outer Eastern Solent.  It is an area with a range of habitats for various fish and attracts a high density of both commercial and recreational fishing activity. These sand and gravel banks have been identified as potential aggregate resources and are also used by local groups including commercial fishermen, charter angling boat skippers and recreational sea anglers together with a number of nature conservation groups.

The Overfalls Project team is lead by CEMARE (University of Portsmouth), together with Homarus Ltd and Offshore Environmental Solutions Ltd. The project is intended to provide a practical, site-based focus on the issues associated with marine spatial planning through a strong, stakeholder-led decision making process.

In September 2006, TEC conducted training for the Overfalls Project team to strengthen the team’s skills in facilitation, stakeholder engagement, and effectively running dialogue processes.  The Project team benefited not only from The Environment Council’s training expertise, and knowledge and experience of stakeholder engagement, but also from our focus on and understanding of the marine sector.

Further information 

For further information on this project, please contact Mike King by email.