Accessibility statement

Last updated 10 May 2021

We are working to make this site as accessible and easy to use as possible. This means we took accessibility into account when we selected the platform provider and we consider it when writing and populating content. We will continue to test it as we add new content and the technologies used to access it change

AbilityNet provides detailed advice and guidance on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

Platform selection

The platform we chose for our website has been designed to meet WCAG 2.1 accessibility criteria.

Fonts and colours

Our website used clear and simple fonts to make information easy to read. The website is responsive, this means you can zoom in to magnify text and images if you need to and it will not break the layout. You can zoom using the options in the ‘View’ menu of your browser, by pressing ‘Ctrl’ and ‘+’ or ‘-’ on a PC keyboard, or by pressing ‘cmd’ and ‘+’ or ‘-’ on a Mac keyboard.

The colours and use of colours on our website have been chosen to meet WCAG 2.1 recommended contrast ratios so that text is easy to read.

If you need to customise colours (or fonts) we recommend using the Firefox browser. Firefox provides an easy to understand guide on how to change your colours and fonts. You can download the latest version of the Firefox browser from their homepage.

Skip to content

Although not visible, if you’re using assistive technology or navigating with a keyboard, a ‘Skip to content’ link exists at the top of every page. This will allow you to skip past the site navigation and get to the page’s content quickly.

Headings

All pages on our website use the correct heading structure making them easier to navigate for all users as well as assistive technologies.

Images

All images that are not purely decorative have alternative text. This text is written to describe what is pictured as clearly as possible.

Links

All links on our website use text that makes sense in isolation so it is always clear where you will be taken.

Accessible documents

We’re working on making our published PDF documents more accessible. However, our focus is on new and recent documents. Regulations do not require us to fix documents published prior to 23 September 2018. This means that older documents may not be accessible to screen readers.

Our online Community Noticeboard facility may also include documents that are not created by us, as such, they may not be accessible. If you do not have an up to date web browser, you may need to install Adobe Reader for free to open PDF documents.

You may however, request any of our published documents, in an alternative format. Some requests, such as translations, we may not be able to fully satisfy. We will, however, always do our best to help you.

Interactive maps

Basic Google Maps are included on our venue pages, these maps are provided by a third party and we cannot fully control how accessible they are. Addresses are listed on these pages, but you can also contact us if you need help with directions.

Forms

We currently provide a number of forms as Microsoft Word documents that can be filled in and returned to us. We are working to update these to interactive and screen reader accessible PDF documents. Please contact us if you have any problems completing a form.

We avoid distributing Word documents but occasionally we need to. If you do not have access to Microsoft Office or an equivalent word processor, you can install Microsoft’s free DOC Viewer if you have a PC. Word documents can be opened on Apple devices with their free word processor Pages.

Live video streams

Although not currently embedded on this website, we do sometimes have to broadcast streams of relevant Council meetings on our YouTube channel. These do not currently have captions.

We are committed to making this website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This website framework is compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard. Older PDF documents (published before 23 September 2018), interactive maps and forms provided as Word documents are only partially compliant.

Reporting a problem to us

If you find any problems not listed on this page, or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please do contact us to let us know. We’re keen to improve accessibility wherever we can.

Disproportionate burden

We have not identified any areas that we believe constitute a disproportionate burden.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

How we tested this website

This website was last tested for accessibility issues in February 2022. Tests were carried out by the consultant we contracted to help us deliver the website and by our website platform provider.

What we’re doing to improve

1. As of February 2022, we have a set of accessible document templates in place. Relevant documents such as Policies will be updated to use these and all future documents we publish will use them
2. Staff will also be provided with guidance and training to help ensure that all new content that is published meets accessibility criteria.
3. The supplier of our website platform will also be running quarterly scans and reporting any accessibility issues they find to us so that we can address them. It was last tested in February 2022.