PDFs
We make the majority of our pdfs accessible before adding them to the website, but some which are essential to providing information about our services, may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value).
The main exceptions have been in relation to documents produced to support Local Plan consultations, as there are a huge number of often very large and complex documents, many produced by other companies.
The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. We have very few inaccessible documents apart from those listed above, as we have been making pdfs accessible for many years.
Live video
We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.
We do host videos on our YouTube site, which we link to from our website. We will be captioning videos produced since 2018. Any new videos added will include captions.
Third party content
This is content under someone else’s control which we did not pay for or develop.
Planning Portal: We use some content and services provided by Planning Portal, which is a private company and exempt from the regulations. This will include documents we receive from applicants who have used the Planning Portal to upload their documents, which are submitted to us.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
We are working to resolve all identified accessibility issues which are within our control. We are working with suppliers to resolve any identified accessibility issues where we do not have direct control over their product.
We require any new third party systems we commission for the website are Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 AA compliant.
If you find a particular issue not listed in this statement please use this contact form.
This website is tested every few days by Silktide. All pages of the main website and PDF documents within the website were tested. We have scored 95/100 for accessibility, 96.7% is compliant for level A WCAG 2.1 checks and 94.6% is compliant for level AA WCAG 2.1 checks and 94.3% for level AAA.
This testing does not include all third party provided sub-sites which make up the website. These include our forms, payment page, committee system, and mapping systems. We are in the process of testing and reviewing all of these and will provide an update as soon as possible.
We also had a high level indicative audit of the website carried out by Smarter Digital Services in February 2020. This involved a combination of automated and manual testing. This tested the main website and not the additional third party sites that make up the website.