Accessibility statement for www.ebbsfleetgardencity.org.uk
Accessibility Statement for
Ebbsfleet Garden City website
This accessibility statement applies to https://ebbsfleetgardencity.org.uk
This website is run by Ebbsfleet Development Corporation. 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 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:
- page regions are not identified with ARIA landmarks
- there may be some pages with incorrect heading structure heading structure
- not all content can be interacted with when navigating using Dragon Naturally Speaking
- some text does not have sufficient contrast with its background
- there are multiple instances of generic link text that take users to different locations
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:
· email: hello@ebbsfleetdc.org.uk
· call: 0303 444 2586
· post: The Observatory, Castle Hill Drive, Ebbsfleet, DA10 1EE
We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 30 days. If you cannot view the map on our ‘contact us’ page, call or email us for directions.
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: hello@ebbsfleetdc.org.uk and ask for the Marketing and Communications team.
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 can provide a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment. If you contact us before your visit, we can also arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
Ebbsfleet Development Corporation 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
Whilst every effort has been made to ensure compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2. AA standard, there remain some elements of non-compliance and exemptions, which are listed below.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
| PDFs, such as the EDC Board Papers PDF, contain multiple graphs that use colours that do not contrast with adjacent colours. Low-contrast graphs may be more difficult to perceive and may be missed by people with visual impairments. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.11 (non-text contrast). | We have reviewed the structure of Board papers to ensure this issue is addressed from July 2024. |
| Accessible names are not provided for informative images, including informative images within PDF and Word documents. This can result in content not being presented to screen reader users. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). | We plan to resolve this by December 2024 |
| Buttons on the Regeneration and The Board pages do not have appropriate accessible names, with the same name of “Open” being used for multiple buttons. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). | We plan to resolve this by December 2024. |
| Regions of the News Article and Newsletter Subscribe pages are not identified with appropriate landmarks. This may be confusing to assistive technology users who navigate using landmarks. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships). | We plan to review this issue by March 2025. |
| Semantic markup has not been used appropriately, with unexpected content, such as breaks, being contained within a <strong> tag. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships). | We plan to review this issue by March 2025. |
| Colour is solely used to convey information within the site and PDFs. People who have problems distinguishing between colours may be unable to access colour-dependent information. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.1 (use of colour). | We plan to review this issue by March 2025. |
| Images with text are present within the Planning and Design page and PDFs. People with low vision may have trouble reading the text with the authored font family, size and/or colour and screen reader users may not have access to text contained within the images. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.5 (images of text). | We plan to review this issue by March 2025. |
| Zooming the page to 400% with a browser width of 1280px results in content occasionally being obscured by the reCAPTCHA button and a two-dimensional scroll is required to view all content within the Newsletter Subscribe page. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.10 (reflow). | We plan to review this issue by March 2025. |
| The focus order is not always logical when navigating with iOS VoiceOver and Android TalkBack screen readers. Screen reader users may miss content or encounter it at an unexpected point on the page. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.3 (focus order). | We plan to review this issue by March 2025. |
| Multiple instances of generic link text are present such as ‘Read here’ and ‘Find out more’, and duplicated link text such as ‘Download’, which do not sufficiently inform screen reader users where they will be navigated to upon interaction with the links. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.4 (link purpose (in context)). | We plan to review this issue by March 2025. |
| The ‘Skip to main content’ link does not function as expected and does not allow keyboard and assistive technology users to bypass repeated navigational components across the site. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.1 (bypass blocks). | This issue has been fixed by our third-party suppliers. |
| When tabbing the page, a consistently visible focus indicator is not always present. Keyboard users may have difficulty visually determining the component currently in focus. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.7 (focus visible). | This issue has been fixed by our third-party suppliers. |
| The displayed names of some user interface components do not always match the accessible label. This may result in navigation issues for speech recognition users. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.5.3 (label in name). | This issue has been fixed by our third-party suppliers. |
Disproportionate burden
| PDFs and other documents: Historical PDF, Word documents and tables are not accessible. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will aim to meet accessibility standards. We’ve assessed the cost of fixing the issues within the PDF and Word documents. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. | We will make another assessment, likely to be in 2025. |
| Layout tables are present across several pages. Screen reader users may have trouble navigating these tables or experience significant overhead. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships). We have reviewed the cost and resource required to fix the issues. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. | We will make another assessment, likely to be in 2025. |
| Automatically playing videos that last longer than 5 seconds are present throughout the site, with no functionality to pause, stop, or hide, this content. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.2.2 (pause, stop, hide). We have assessed the cost of fixing the issue with third party suppliers, and believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. | We will make another assessment, likely to be in 2025. |
| On the Newsletter Subscribe and Contact Us pages, the ‘Email’ input field does not provide information on the formatting within the label or title. People may have trouble entering the correct information. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 3.3.2 (labels or instructions). We have assessed the cost of fixing the issue with third party suppliers, and believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. | We will make another assessment, likely to be in 2025. |
| Some uses of ARIA on the Board Meetings page are not appropriate and may result in some content being announced incorrectly by screen readers. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role, value). We have assessed the cost of fixing the issue with third party suppliers, and believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. | We will make another assessment, likely to be in 2025. |
| The language of the page and PDFs is not always correctly identified using the HTML ‘lang’ attribute. People who use screen readers or other technologies that convert text into synthetic speech may have trouble navigating the pages. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 3.1.1 (language of page). We have assessed the cost of fixing the issue with third party suppliers, and believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. | We will make another assessment, likely to be in 2025. |
| When navigating with iOS VoiceOver and Android TalkBack screen readers on mobile devices, the ordinal indicators for dates are focused on and announced separately from the date. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role, value). We have assessed the cost of fixing the issue with third party suppliers, and believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. | We will make another assessment, likely to be in 2025. |
| Users of Dragon Naturally Speaking (speech recognition software), are unable to use any of the video controls whilst a video is playing by using known voice commands. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role, value). We have assessed the cost of fixing the issue with third party suppliers, and believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. | We will make another assessment, likely to be in 2025. |
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
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. 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. For example, we do not plan to fix Corporate documentation that was first published prior to 2018.
Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will strive to meet accessibility standards.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 02/05/2024. It was last reviewed on 18/05/2024
This website was last tested on 01/05/2024. The test was carried out by Zoonou. Zoonou used WCAG-EM to define a representative selection of pages and test approach.