We continue to work with DAC (Digital Accessibility Centre (External link - Opens in a new tab or window)) to ensure our website is accessible to as many people as possible, regardless of technology or ability. Also, we are committed to improving our online services for residents and businesses.

Listen to our website

You can use Browsealoud (External link - Opens in a new tab or window) for free to listen to our website with the link at the top of the page. Browsealoud is useful if you:

  • have dyslexia

  • have learning difficulties

  • have mild visual impairments

  • use English as a second language

Accessibility features

Plain English

We try to write in plain English and avoid jargon where possible. If you don’t understand something, please let us know.

Heading structures

The site uses simple heading structures which should make it easier to navigate, especially for people with screen readers.

Web standards

We try our best to comply with code standards such as those relating to CSS and HTML, and W3C WAI guidelines (External link - Opens in a new tab or window).

Links

To notify screen reader users, we’re currently adding icons to all our document links which open in a new window or to other websites. The icon also has hidden content for screen readers which state that links open in new windows and if they link to different websites.

Forms

The embedded forms used on this website are not fully accessible to screen readers. We’re currently working with the DAC to resolve this.

Documents

We try to make our documents as accessible as possible, but sometimes this can’t be done. If you need a document in a different format, please contact us and we will do our best to provide it.

Changeable page features

Text size

If you find the site’s default text size is too small or large, you can change it with your browser's inbuilt text-size function.

To resize the text using your browser:

  • use the ‘View’ menu and then select ‘Text Size’, in Windows Internet Explorer (including Pocket IE)

    use the ‘View’ menu and then select ‘Text Size’, in Firefox and other Mozilla browsers

    use the ‘View’ and then ‘Make Text Bigger’ options, in Safari

    use the ‘View’ and ‘Style’ menus, and then ‘User Mode’, in Opera

    use the ‘View’ and then ‘Text Zoom’ menu, in Macintosh Internet Explorer, and Netscape 6 and 7

With a wheel-mouse, you may be able to change the text size by holding down the Control or Command key and turning the wheel. In some browsers, you can change the text size using Control or Command and the + or - keys.

Text style and colour

You can also specify the font styles, colours, as well as the foreground and background colours. The way you do this varies from browser to browser, with you needing to:

  • use ‘Tools’ in ‘Internet Options’, with Windows Internet Explorer (including Pocket IE)

    use ‘Tools’ in ‘Options’ under ‘Content’, in Firefox and other Mozilla browsers

    use the ‘View’ and then ‘Make Text Bigger’ options, in Safari

    use the ‘View’ menu and then ‘Zoom’, in Opera

    use the ‘View’ menu and then ‘Text Zoom’, in Macintosh Internet Explorer, and Netscape 6 and 7

Documents

The following applies to desktop and laptop computers, but not tablets or mobiles.

PDF documents: most computers will show these automatically. If you need the software, you can download the free PDF reader from the Adobe website (External link - Opens in a new tab or window).