Cambridge City

Accessibility statement

Cambridge City Local Nature Reserves website

This document is currently being updated. We are adding more information as we review the site. If you have any questions about using this site or how we are making it more accessible, please contact us. This statement will be completed by 1 September 2020.

This website have been created by Cambridge City Council to provide information on our Local Nature Reserves. 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, contrast levels 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 (tested with Hands Free App)
  • 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:

  • The interactive maps might not work with some assistive technology, or when navigating with the keyboard alone.
  • some older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software.

What to do if you cannot access parts of this website

If you need information on this website in a different format you can contact us at:

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 14 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, 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 (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

The Local Nature Reserves department does not have a permanent office, but enquiries can be made directly to the Council. They are able to provide a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment.

The council offices have audio induction loops, or if you contact them before your visit they can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.

You can contact Cambridge City Council as follows:

Customer service centre is at Mandela House, 4 Regent Street, Cambridge CB2 1BY.

Call or visit us Monday to Friday, 9am – 5.15pm

Telephone: Call us on 01223 457000

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Cambridge City Council Local Nature Reserves 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 partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible:

  • The interactive maps might not work with some assistive technology, or when navigating with the keyboard alone.
  • some older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software.

Disproportionate burden

Our website uses a third-party image plugin which does not meet WCAG 2.1 standards. (Ensure headings include text WCAG A 1.3.1). To fix this problem would mean re-building a major aspect of the site, which is not possible within the current budget. It should not affect how you access the information on the site.

We’ve assessed the cost of fixing the issues above. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We will make another assessment when the supplier contract is up for renewal, likely to be early 2021.

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

Nature Reserve Map – Google Maps

It is unlikely that the reserve maps are fully accessible with all assistive technologies. However maps are currently not within the scope of the regulations. There are several ways of accessing the information that is shown on the maps, and all details are available in an alternative accessible format. For example: You are able to visit the reserve pages through navigation and in-page links instead of using the map. The physical location of each reserve is written as an address.

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.

These PDF documents are not essential to providing our service, but offer more in-depth details on some of our reserves including Management Plans. If you require these documents in a more accessible format, please contact us and we will respond within 14 days with alternative options.

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:

  • Activities, Games and Worksheets provided in PDF format.
  • PDF files of the interpretation panels that are displayed at the Reserve. Similar (although not identical) information is available in an accessible format on the website.
  • PDF Reserve Management Plans: When these are renewed, they will be made in an accessible format.

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

How we tested this website

This website was last manually tested on 1 April 2020. The test was carried out by Speckled Frog Ltd, who built the website.

We tested all pages on our website platform:  https://lnr.cambridge.gov.uk/

We used the following tools and methods to test the site:

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We evaluate the site every three months to make sure any new content is accessible and also to prioritise work on any issues that are found.

© 2020, Cambridge City Council