ACCESSIBILITY STATEMENT
for Snape Parish Council website
snapevillage.info

 

Preamble

This website is run by Snape Parish Council, and we want as many people as possible to be able to use it.  For example, that means you should be able to —
— 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, whether it is vision, hearing, motor or cognitive — visit them at https://mcmw.abilitynet.org.uk/.

 

How accessible this website is

Text links have always been highlighted in an especially vivid violet-blue.  Images that are used as links have an "Alternative Text" for unsighted users explaining what they are, with suitably-equivalent visible text close by and/or with a blue border (which local convention is highlighted on the Homepage). 

We know that some parts of this website are not fully accessible, which is a function of the software supplied by our website service provider, One Suffolk —
— you cannot modify the line-height or spacing of text;
— we can’t guarantee the full accessibility of our PDF documents or Word (DOC or DOCX) documents to screen-reader software;
— you may have difficulty reading the list of documents on the download-pages named in the "Disproportionate burden" paragraph below.

 

What to do if you cannot access parts of this website

If you need information on this website, but would prefer it presented in a different format (such as in accessible PDF, large print, easy-read, audio-recording or braille), please email the webmaster@snapevillage.info — there is also a link "to report website issues to the Webmaster" at the foot of every page of this website.  We’ll consider your request and aim to get back to you, with at least an acknowledgement, within a few days.

 

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website.  If you find any problems that aren't mentioned here, or consider that we’re not meeting your accessibility requirements, please email to the address above.  The Webmaster aims to help you out with your query and offer a satisfactory solution.

 

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 unhappy with how we respond to your complaint, you can contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

 

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Snape Parish 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.

 

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

The carousel of images "Around our Village" that was at the top of the homepage has now been moved to its own page, as carousels are generally regarded as incompatible with typical screen-reader software, such as JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver.  (For the same reason, other carousels have now been removed from the «News-blog» and «What's on?» pages.)  However the "mini-carousel" on our Village Hall (V.Hall) page remains, as it amounts to an advertisement to potential hirers, and is unlikely to be an inconvenience to anyone if it remains.  Similarly, mini-carousels remain on the «GreenSnape», «Playing Field» and «Priory Wood» pages as respective advertisements of their activities and resources, as this is the most effective medium for the vast majority of users.

Occasionally, newsletter-type updates (such as from Suffolk Police) are displayed within Blogs as images, but either the salient points will be duplicated within the blog-text or there will be the opportunity to download a copy of the incoming item, such as at http://snapevillage.info/news-blog/view/221.  Similarly, annual reports from organisations in the village may be reproduced in full as images, but there is usually the option to download the document too, such as for the GreenSnape 2019/20 report at https://snapevillage.info/pc/org21/#gs (which is explained in a message at the head of that particular webpage).

The Parish Council «Meeting Dates» webpage is laid out in tabular form, as that is the clearest way in which to display upwards of 15 months' worth of meetings, but for disabled users the dates of the next two meetings are also announced in sentence form above the table (matching the number of upcoming meetings usually displayed on the «What's on?» Events pages).  The Snape Good Neighbours' «Volunteers' info» webpage is also laid out in tabular form, but this page is a restricted, password-protected page, only for Volunteers' use.  The «Community EP Co-ordinators 2» webpage includes an image of their operational Telephone Tree, but this too is a similar confidential Volunteers' page. 

The «My Life & Safety» page contains a number of meaningful icons as links to facilities and contacts required by users in an emergency: any explanatory text for the icon is duplicated as the "Alternative Text" for unsighted users. 

 

Disproportionate burden

Documents regularly published by the Parish Council are produced in PDF, DOC or DOCX format, which is technically incompatible with screen-reader software, and it would be burdensome to convert them all.  However, as a compromise, since around mid-2020 they have been produced and presented in a much clearer, more acceptable format than before.  They are downloadable via the dropdown menu on the «Parish Council V» link above — namely, for now, «Minutes for the last year», «Council Governance documents», «Data Protection & Subject Access» and «Finance downloads».

 

How we tested this website

This website was last tested on the date at the foot of this page.  The test was carried out by the Webmaster (a volunteer), using the Wave Accessibility validation software (recommended by One Suffolk), but without access to any other user-accessibility software.  So please email the Webmaster (as above) with details of any issues that you encounter whilst using the website, thank you.

 

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are constantly looking at our website accessibility alongside our service providers' developers, and where we can improve on it we will.  We follow a specific set of guidelines to ensure all our content meets the WCAG 2.1 Standard.

 

Update history

This statement was first prepared on 21st September 2020, and is closely based on an example text suggested by One Suffolk, our website service-provider.  It was stabilised by 8th January 2021.

Amendment 1 (11th February 2022) to «Non-compliance» §2:  Link corrected following re-presentation by GreenSnape of their 2019/20 report to the April 2021 Annual Parish Meeting.