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Accessibility Statement

This website is run by Christchurch Town Council. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
  • We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

There are websites which help improve accessibility for users and AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible this website is

Some parts of this website may not be fully accessible:

  • some PDF documents may not be fully accessible to screen reader software
  • some video and audio streams may not have captions
  • some text and links may have poor colour contrast
  • maps may be difficult to navigate using screen reader software

How to request content in an accessible format

If you need information in a different format contact us and tell us:

  • the web address (URL) of the content
  • your name and email address
  • the format you need, for example, audio CD, braille, BSL or large print, accessible PDF

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact us using the details at the bottom of this website. Or as follows:

  • email: townclerk@christchurch-tc.gov.uk
  • call: 01202 022 479
  • write: Christchurch Town Council, Old Town Hall, 30 High Street. Christchurch. BH23 1AY.

We’ll consider your request and get back to you within 10 working days.

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).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

This council is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

The content that is not accessible is outlined below.

We may have some scanned PDF documents on our website e.g. Surveys and survey analyses. Scanned PDF documents do not comply with the Accessibility Regulations 2018 but these documents can be provided in an alternative format or on alternative media, on request.

Disproportionate burden

Not applicable.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

3rd party products:

  • We use Google maps. These may not be accessible to some people. We will always provide the information by alternative means on request.
  • Social media share bars may not meet the required colour contrast levels

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards – for example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value).

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. For example, we do not plan to fix meeting agendas or minutes for meetings which were published prior to 23 September 2018.

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. By September 2020, where possible, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.

Any new PDFs or Word documents created by us will meet accessibility standards.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 29th January 2021. It shall be reviewed every 6 months.

We used the methodology described in “Website Accessibility Requirements” produced by the National Association of Local Councils.

How we tested this website.

This website has been tested by our website provider Aubergine 262. A sample of pages have been tested.