Accessibility statement for Battle Town Council

This accessibility statement applies to the website: http://www.battletowncouncil.gov.uk/.

This website is run by Battle 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.

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:

  • Some copy has a low colour contrast to the site background.
  • Alternative attributes are not always meaningful
  • Links within paragraphs are only styled with a change of colour on focus
  • Menu content that appears on hover or focus cannot be dismissed without moving hover or focus
  • Some PDFs created since September 2018 and most older PDFs are not accessible to screen reader software
  • Some form inputs do not have associated labels within the HTML.
  • Images of text are present on some pages
  • Autocomplete attributes have not been applied to form input fields

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:

Battle Town Council
The Almonry
High Street
Battle
East Sussex
TN33 0EA

We’ll consider your request and get back to you within 14 working 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: clerk@battletowncouncil.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

Town Clerk, Carol Harris

Email: clerk@battletowncouncil.gov.uk

Tel. 01424 772210

Find out how to contact us.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Battle Town 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 and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Links within paragraphs are only styled with a change of colour on focus. This is a failure of WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.1 Use of Colour.

We plan to add a second method of identifying links within text by 31st March 2021.

Main site navigation controls are not identified with a navigational page region. This is a failure of WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships.

We plan to add semantic landmarks for the site navigation by 31st March 2021.

Some form inputs do not have associated labels within the HTML. For example; on the ‘Contact’ page both the ‘Your email’ field and ‘Message field lack labels. This is a failure of WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 Non-Text Content.

We plan to provide accessible names for form input fields by 31st March 2021.

Some copy has a low colour contrast to the site background. This is particularly notable for link text, the ‘Privacy Policy’ link in the footer and placeholder copy in forms. This is a failure of WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3 Contrast Minimum.

We plan to update the colour contrast on the site by 31st March 2021.

The user’s focus is illogical across the site with focus being given to sidebar content prior to the main body content. This is a failure of WCAG 2.1 2.4.3 Focus Order.

We plan to update the focus order on the site by 31st March 2021.

The arrow icons on the ‘Contact’ page do not have sufficient contrast to the background of the site. Additionally table sort controls do no have sufficient contrast to the site background.

This is a failure of WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast.

We plan to update the colour contrast of UI components on the site by 31st March 2021.

Across the site there are multiple instances where identical links on the same page navigate users to different pages. Examples of this include ‘Full Details’ links on the ‘Planning’ page. This is a failure of WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context).

We plan to remove all identical links by 31st March 2021.

HTML validation issues are present within the source code which may prevent the usage of some assistive technologies. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.1 Parsing.

We plan to review and resolve any HTML validation issues by 31st March 2021.

Heading levels have been skipped on some pages of the site, these include ‘Contact’ and ‘Planning Applications’. This is a failure of WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks.

We plan to review and update the heading structure across the site by 31st March 2021.

Some PDFs created since September 2018 are not accessible to screen reader software. This is a failure of WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value.

We plan to update all PDFs created since September 2018 to improve their accessibility by 31st March 2021.

Images of text are present on some pages, such as the ‘1066 Writing Competition’ page and the COVID-19 page. This is a failure of WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.5 Images of Text.

We plan to replace images of text with accessible formats by 31st March 2021.

Inputs are not grouped using field set and legend HTML attributes on ‘The Disability Question’ page. This is a failure of WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships.

We plan to implement form input groupings by 31st March 2021.

Form input fields do not utilise autocomplete attributes. This is a failure of WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.5 Identify Input Purpose.

We plan to implement autocomplete attributes on relevant form input fields by 31st March 2021.

At 400% zoom at a 1280px viewport some text is not visible in it’s entirety. This is a failure of 1.4.10 Reflow.

We plan to ensure that no content is lost when the site reflows by 31st March 2021.

Menu content that appears on hover or focus cannot be dismissed without moving hover or focus. This is a failure of WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.13 Content on Hover or Focus.

We plan to provide a mechanism to dismiss content that displays on hover or focus by 31st March 2021.

Some images have incorrect alternative attributes. This is a failure of WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 Non-Text Content.

We plan to update the alternative attributes of images on the website by 31st March 2021.

Disproportionate burden

At present, we will not be claiming disproportionate burden.

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

PDFs and other documents

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. We are in the process of fixing these or replacing these with HTML.

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.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Twitter content

Battle Town Council are not responsible for contrast issues present within the Twitter plug-in. We aim to replace this with a more accessible version by 31st March 2021.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 18/01/2022.

We used this approach to deciding on a sample of pages to test WCAG-EM.

Please note that whilst Council are currently working to make all documents accessible, those added over the lockdown period will unfortunately not be. Please contact clerk@battletowncouncil.gov.uk if you require any assistance accessing documents listed on the website.