Planning, building control and licensing online: accessibility

We use the Northgate platform to publish documents associated with planning applications and tree preservation orders.

The supplier, Northgate, has identified the following accessibility issues with this platform which will be resolved by the end of March 2021.

Further information

WCAG 2.1 A Criterion 1.3.1 Info and relationships

Issue:

• The checkboxes do not have a label. This means that visually impaired users may not be aware of what the checkbox is used for

WCAG 2.1 A criterion 1.3.2 Meaningful sequence

Issue:

• The document download button is disabled until a selection is made. This means the screen reader may miss that this options is available

WCAG 2.1 AAA criterion 1.4.8 Visual presentation

Issue:

• Zooming the page creates horizontal scrollbars. When zooming the page significantly, the page may display horizontal scrollbars which may be difficult to navigate for some user

WCAG 2.1 A criterion 2.4.3 Focus order

Issue:

• The focus does not move to buttons on message boxes. This means that someone exclusively using the keyboard would need to press tab a number of times to gain focus

How testing was carried out

The Documents page of planning online was tested on 15 June 2020. The test was carried out by accessibility specialists in the Northgate Public Services testing team.
The team tested the most used customer journeys through the website and a sample of the different types of page. The testing followed the WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines and considered the needs of users with sight impairment, physical disabilities, hearing impairment and cognitive disabilities. 
The tools used:

• Screen readers: JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver
• Evaluation tools: WAVE, Web Accessibility Toolbar and ARC Toolkit
• Other tools: browser zoom tool and Windows Speech Recognition  

If you are having difficulty accessing this information: Please contact the Systems Administrator for planning applications and appeals:

• Completing our contact form
• Telephoning 01455 255647

Last updated: ‎11‎/‎01‎/‎2021‎ ‎15‎:‎46‎