Web Accessibility Policy

Christchurch Parish Council – Accessibility Statement

This website is run by Christchurch Parish Council. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • 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:

  • some older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • some pages may have heading structures that are not fully compliant

What to do if you cannot access parts of this website

If you need information on this website in a different format (accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille):

We’ll consider your request and get back to you within 10 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, please contact:

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. 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

If you would like to contact the Parish Council, please use one of the methods above.

We do not have a public office to visit, but we can arrange for the Clerk or a Councillor to visit you if you have difficulties accessing the monthly Council meetings.

Find out how to contact us here: Christchurch Parish Council Contact Page

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Christchurch 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 compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard. Some content is partially compliant, due to the non-compliant items listed below.

Non-accessible content

Some pages may contain attachments which are not currently compliant, such as:

  • Older PDF files published before 23 September 2018
  • Documents provided by 3rd parties
  • Councillors' Declarations of Interests
  • AGAR Annual Governance and Accountability documents (currently exempt from accessibility compliance)

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

We will do all we can to identify content that is non-compliant and, where possible, provide an alternative format upon request.

When we publish new content, we will make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards, and our website is regularly reviewed to ensure all the pages are compliant. If you find a page that you are having difficulty accessing its content, please contact us at the above details and we will assist you in gaining access to the content where possible.

Disproportionate burden

Some historical documents and meeting minutes published before 23 September 2018 are in PDF or scanned image format and may not be accessible. We believe fixing these would be a disproportionate burden but will provide accessible formats on request.

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

PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards – for example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.2AA success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value).

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 meeting agendas or minutes for meetings which were published prior to 23 September 2018.

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

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 10 August 2025. It was last reviewed on 9 March 2026.

This website was last tested on 1 March 2026. The test was carried out by Christchurch Parish Council’s internal web team.