Accessibility Statement
We continue to work to ensure our website is accessible to as many people as possible, regardless of technology or ability. Also, we are committed to improving our online services for residents and businesses.
Accessibility features
Plain English
We try to write in plain English and avoid jargon where possible. If you don’t understand something, please let us know.
Heading structures
The site uses simple heading structures which should make it easier to navigate, especially for people with screen readers.
Web standards
We try our best to comply with code standards such as those relating to CSS and HTML, and W3C WAI guidelines.
Links
To notify screen reader users, we’re currently adding icons to all our document links which open in a new window or to other websites. The icon also has hidden content for screen readers which state that links open in new windows and if they link to different websites.
Forms
The embedded forms used on this website are not fully accessible to screen readers. We’re currently working with the DAC to resolve this.
Documents
We try to make our documents as accessible as possible, but sometimes this can’t be done. If you need a document in a different format, please contact us and we will do our best to provide it.
Changeable page features
Text size
If you find the site’s default text size is too small or large, you can change it with your browser’s inbuilt text-size function.
To resize the text using your browser:
use the ‘View’ menu and then select ‘Text Size’, in Windows Internet Explorer (including Pocket IE)
use the ‘View’ menu and then select ‘Text Size’, in Firefox and other Mozilla browsers
use the ‘View’ and then ‘Make Text Bigger’ options, in Safari
use the ‘View’ and ‘Style’ menus, and then ‘User Mode’, in Opera
use the ‘View’ and then ‘Text Zoom’ menu, in Macintosh Internet Explorer, and Netscape 6 and 7
With a wheel-mouse, you may be able to change the text size by holding down the Control or Command key and turning the wheel. In some browsers, you can change the text size using Control or Command and the + or – keys.
Text style and colour
You can also specify the font styles, colours, as well as the foreground and background colours. The way you do this varies from browser to browser, with you needing to:
use ‘Tools’ in ‘Internet Options’, with Windows Internet Explorer (including Pocket IE)
use ‘Tools’ in ‘Options’ under ‘Content’, in Firefox and other Mozilla browsers
use the ‘View’ and then ‘Make Text Bigger’ options, in Safari
use the ‘View’ menu and then ‘Zoom’, in Opera
use the ‘View’ menu and then ‘Text Zoom’, in Macintosh Internet Explorer, and Netscape 6 and 7
Documents
The following applies to desktop and laptop computers, but not tablets or mobiles.
PDF documents: most computers will show these automatically. If you need the software, you can download the free PDF reader from the Adobe website .
Multimedia content
Our website’s videos are embedded via the website YouTube. Due to this, some accessibility features may not be available, which is beyond our control. Visit the YouTube help pages for information on accessing videos with screen readers.
Embedded content
Our website uses content embedded from other websites. This may reduce accessibility when trying to access content directly via keyboards or screen reader technology. If this issue affects you, please contact us so that we can help where possible, and fix any problems.