We are committed to providing an accessible website for all our customers and the website has achieved A of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. In order to make your visit more successful, we are aiming to achieve AA of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
Navigating our website
We are working towards using the Local Government Navigation List. It is designed to give easy access to information about council services even if you don't know before you start which section to look in.
- Navigation across the website is positioned on the left-hand side of every web page.
- The search facility is situated on the top, right-hand side of every web page.
- The A-Z of council services is located at the top of every web page.
- Access keys - Assigning access keys to menu items adds 'Hot-Key' functions to a website, letting frequent users spend less time moving and clicking the mouse.
Clear English accreditation
On 5 May 2004 we were the very first local authority to be awarded the Winning Website Logo accreditation by the Plain Language Commission.
After a detailed, thorough assessment against a range of criteria including clarity and content, style and grammar, structure and usability, layout and design our website was awarded the Clear English Standard.
Our website will be re-checked by the Plain Language Commission every four months. We will continue to meet the accreditation criteria and maintain the Clear English Standard Winning Website logo.
The Plain Language Commission is established as a business, independent of any government body.
Adobe Acrobat documents
Most documents attached to our website are published in PDF format. Wherever possible the download times are also provided. This will help you calculate if your computer can download the document in a satisfactory time. To ensure the enhanced accessibility of PDF documents, we will include a link to the Adobe accessibility web page as often as possible.
Other accessibility features
- All our web pages have a printer-friendly option.
- We offer a free download to Browsealoud that speech enables our website content.
- Our Translation section gives details of where you can access translation services.
- All our web pages are tested to ensure they can be viewed on Apple Macintosh computers.
- All web pages can be viewed in larger text by selecting “View” then "text size" in your web browser.
- An online customer feedback form is available on every web page.
Internet Access
You can also access our website via the Local Links service in the libraries.
We hope you find our website clear and easy to use. We value your comments on this website. Please let us know your thoughts by completing the feedback form that appears on this page.