Planning Policy Consultation Portal - Accessibility

Accessibility statement for Planning Policy Consultation Portal

This accessibility statement applies to Planning Policy Consultation Portal. This website is run by Surrey Heath Borough 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
  • we’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:
  • colour contrast on some link text isn't sufficient
  • most documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:
We’ll consider your request and aim to get back to you within 10 days.

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: web.support@surreyheath.gov.uk. 

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).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

We have an audio induction loop system in our Contact Centre.

Find out how to contact us.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Surrey Heath Borough Council is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to ‘the non-compliances’, listed below.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Colour contrast is insufficient on some link text.

This fails Success Criterion 1.4.3 (Contrast Minimum). 

Some documents published between 24 September 2018 - 24 January 2022 may not be fully accessible for various reasons. 

Issues include:
  • Missing headings or headings that don’t follow a logical order - This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships)
  • Missing titles - This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.2 (Page Titled)
  • Default language not specified - This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.1.1 (Language of Page) 
  • Some links to other websites may not be fully accessible - This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 (Link Purpose In Context)
  • Some images may not have alternative text - This fails WCAG success criterion 1.1.1 (Non Text Context)
  • Some tables, including nested tables, may not be easily readable - This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.2 (Meaningful Sequence)

Disproportionate burden

Documents

Issues include:
  • Missing headings or headings that don’t follow a logical order - This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships)
  • Missing titles - This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.2 (Page Titled)
  • Default language not specified - This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.1.1 (Language of Page) 
  • Some links to other websites may not be fully accessible - This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 (Link Purpose In Context)
  • Some images may not have alternative text - This fails WCAG success criterion 1.1.1 (Non Text Context)
  • Some tables, including nested tables, may not be easily readable - This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.2 (Meaningful Sequence)

We’ve assessed the cost and resources required to fix the documents on the Planning Policy Consultation Portal. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We will continue to monitor these documents and make further assessments when each document is due to be updated (timescales for this vary according to the document) or sooner if resources allow.

We plan to make sure that all PDFs published on or after 24 January 2022 meet accessibility standards. 

Due to time and resources, it may not always be possible to fix all PDFs before they are published.  When this is the case we will assess the cost and resources required to fix them, and in some cases, we may find they meet the criteria for disproportionate burden at that time.  The following documents were considered to be a disproportionate burden to fix at the time of publication, but will be reviewed again in the future:

  • No applicable documents (24 January 2022)

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

PDFs and other documents

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. 

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are working with our supplier to assess the cost of fixing the contrast issues outlined in this statement. It may be that fixing these issues now will be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We are currently reviewing the prospect of upgrading our website; should this work go ahead, these issues would be rectified as part of that process. We will make another assessment once a decision on this has been made which will be before 31 March 2022.

We plan to make sure that any new PDFs which we publish from 24 January 2022 will meet accessibility standards.  

To support this, in January 2022, we are launching new corporate templates which should make it easier for staff to ensure their documents are accessible. We will also be sharing a number of resources to assist with this and offer training where appropriate.  

All PDFs will be checked for accessibility before they are added to the website and reports on PDF accessibility will be reviewed at least monthly to make sure the PDFs are meeting accessibility standards.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 24 January 2022. It was last reviewed on 24 January 2022.

This website was last tested using WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool on 31 January 2022.