Accessibility Statement for Belper Town Council
Accessibility Statement for Belper Town Council
This accessibility statement applies to www.belpertowncouncil.gov.uk.
This website is run by Belper Town Council. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means that you should be able to:-
- Change colours, contrast levels and fonts
- Zoom in up to 300% without text spilling off the screen
and will reflow in a single column
- Navigate most of the website just using a keyboard
- Navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
- Listen to most of the website using a screen reader
We have also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.
AbilityNet < https://mcmw.abilitynet.org.uk/> has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
1 File Formats
The website use's mainly PDF (Portable Document Format) file format which uses
Adobe Acrobat Reader which can be downloaded here
2 Controlling text and colours in your web browser
2.1 Change text size with zoom
Most web browsers let you increase and decrease the size of text, images, and other web page content with a "zoom" feature. Some browsers let you choose to zoom only the text size. To change the zoom in most browsers, press the following two keys at the same time:-
In Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS:
To zoom bigger: "Ctrl" and "+" keys
To zoom smaller: "Ctrl" and "-" keys
Mac OS:
To zoom bigger: "⌘" and "+" keys
To zoom smaller: "⌘" and "-" keys
Browsers provide specific guidance on different ways to change the page zoom or text-only zoom:-
Google Chrome - Change text, image, and video sizes (zoom)
Apple Safari - Zoom in on webpages
Mozilla Firefox - Font size and zoom
Internet Explorer - Ease of access options
Microsoft Edge - Ease of Access in Microsoft Edge
Other text and colour changes
Some browsers provide functionality to set different aspects of font and colour in the default view:-
Mozilla Firefox - Change the fonts and colours websites use
Microsoft Internet Explorer - Ease of Access Options
Other text and colour settings are available in Reader View.
2.2 Reader View
Most browsers offer a "Reader View" or "Reading View" that shows just the main content; it removes navigation, advertisements, etc. Some browsers let you set the text font, text size, text colour, background colour, and line spacing in Reader View.
Apple Safari - Hide advertisements when reading articles
Mozilla Firefox - Reader View for clutter-free web pages
Microsoft Edge - Change font style and size for Reading view in Microsoft Edge
3 How accessible is Belper Town Council Website
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:
The text will not reflow in a single column when you change the size of the browser window, however if you switch to mobile view then that is not the case.
You cannot modify the line height or spacing of text however if you switch to mobile view that is not the case
- most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
- you cannot skip to the main content when using a screen reader
Any documents produced by third parties but attached to our website may not be fully accessible. The website supports text to speech and the option to change font size, colour and background colour.
All of the documents produced by Belper Town Council after 1 July 2020 will have headers, and in some cases a table of contents, making the navigation of documents easy to use and to find a specific items within our PDF documents.
We are not in a position to commit to a retrospective check of all Belper Town Council document issued before 1st July 2020 however we will endeavour to bring the most used and latest documents to an accessible standard.
However, we know at the moment, that the website might not be fully accessible via navigation of the keyboard as the tabs on the various pages are not prominent. We are currently investigating this matter and this policy will be updated when this is known. However, the navigation tables on the contact pages are fully functioning and easy to use.
4 What to do if you can not access part of this website
If you need information from the website in a different format to what has been provided, please email:- clerk@belpertowncouncil.gov.uk or telephone; 01773 822116.
We will consider your request and get back to you within 5 working days, excluding public holidays, annual leave or absence of the Town Clerk.
If you cannot view the map on our 'contact us' page, call 01773 822116 or email clerk@belpertowncouncil.gov.uk for directions.
5 Reporting accessibility problems within the website
We are always looking to improve the accessibility of our website. If you find any problems that are not listed on this page or think we are not meeting accessibility requirements please contact the Clerk via email clerk@belpertowncouncil.gov.uk or telephone 01773 822116 and the matter will be discussed and investigated with the web site developer.
6 Enforcement procedure
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Website and Mobile Applications) (NO. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the 'accessibility regulations'). If you are not happy how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) (https://www.equalityadvisoryservice.com/).
7 Technical information about this website's accessibility
Belper Town Council is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Website and Mobile Applications) (NO. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 (https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/) AA standard, due to the non-compliance listed below.
8 Non accessible content
Some pages may contain attachments which are not currently compliant, such as:
older PDF files such as Meeting Minutes and Agendas published before 23September 2018. Content produced by third parties or using third party software.
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
8.1 Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
Some older PDF documents still do not include section headings. This does not meet criterion 4.1.2 (name, role, value). All our current documents comply with this criteria and older documents (issued prior to September 2018) will be amended as and when they are encountered.
Changes to this statement will made regularly as we strive to ensure as much accessibility as possible.
9 Disproportionate burden
There are costs associated with amending PDF documents which were published before September 2018 and we have no plans to update these unless they are shown to be in regular use and the associated costs involved are not disproportionate to the gains achieved.
9.1 Navigation and accessing information
There currently is no way to skip the repeated content in the page header (for example, a 'skip to main content' option) however this option is being looked into by the web site developer.
It is not always possible for users to change text size without some of the content overlapping but this can be overcome by using the mobile view.
Interactive tools
Some of our interactive forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard. For example, because some form controls are missing a 'label' tag we are looking into this and will review on a regular basis.
Some parts of this site link to or use content provided by other websites and these are not always accessible. Examples include:
- Social share buttons
- YouTube videos
- Google Maps
We have assessed the cost of fixing this issue with navigation and accessing information, and with interactive tools. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We will make another assessment when we review this statement at the Annual Council meeting.
10 Content that is not within the scope of the Accessibility Regulations
10.1 PDFs and other documents
Some of the older PDF documents, published before September 2018 are not currently in an accessible format and we have no plans to update these as a matter of course but if it is seen that some are requested on a regular basis then every effort will be made to make them accessible, this will be dependent on cost and time constraints
We are always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we are not meeting accessibility requirements, contact:-
Belper Town Council
St Johns Chapel
The Butts
Belper
Derbyshire
DE56 1HX
clerk@belpertowncouncil.gov.uk
01773 822116
Any new PDFs we publish will meet accessibility standards.
Changes to this statement will be made regularly as we strive to ensure as much accessibility as possible.
Statement Created | 14 July 2020 |
Amendments made to criteria | 22 June 2021 |
11 Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 14 July 2020. It was last reviewed on 22 June 2021.
This website was last tested on 22 June 2021. The test was carried out by Town Clerk. We used this approach to decide on a sample of pages to test using Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool.