Accessibility Statement

Our commitment to making our websites accessible

This accessibility statement applies to this site: wokinghamcountryside.co.uk

We strive to make our website as user-friendly and accessible as possible. To achieve this, we follow W3C accessibility guidance and the principles of Plain English.

This website is run by Wokingham Borough Council. 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 percent 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. If you have a disability, you can get advice on making your device easier to use from AbilityNet.

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

You cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
Some older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
There’s a limit to how far you can magnify our maps

Feedback and contact information

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website.

If you find a problem not listed here, need information on this website in a different format, or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, email customerservice@wokingham.gov.uk and provide us with your email address and phone number.

We also provide a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment. Queries about this service can be sent to the same email address.

We'll consider your request and get back to you in 3 working days.

You can also get in touch with us by calling: 0118 974 6000

If you'd prefer to visit us in person, we're open weekdays 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday (except for Bank Holidays) and are based at the following address:

Wokingham Borough Council
Shute End
Wokingham, Berkshire
RG40 1BN

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).

Read more about the enforcement process.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Wokingham Borough Council is committed to making its websites accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance Status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances outlined below.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons:

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations.

1. WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (minimum)

Home: Some elements within the page title 'Welcome to Countryside Service etc.' do not have sufficient colour contrast due to the background image.
All pages: The placeholder text 'Enter your message', within the chat icon of our Chat Bot, does not have sufficient colour contrast

2.WCAG 2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured (Minimum)

All pages: Once the chat icon has been expanded, the keyboard focus can move to the page content behind it if the user tabs away from the chat box. This results in the links 'Boat Hire' and 'Contact Us' being obscured. This changes to cover all content at 200% and 400% zoom.
The Chat Bot also has text reading 'Wokingham Borough Council' that at 400% magnification is cut off. We have raised with the third party provider and they have not been able to fix it.

We commit to fix the colour contrast on our home page related to the template design and background image. We will work with our suppliers to ensure this is fixed in a new design iteration. This will be achieved by May 2026.

We are working to fix the other issues which relate to our Chat Bot. We want to ensure it is accessible. The Council commits to:

Review the contract and/or provider's obligation to provide a fully compliant interactive chat tool. This will ensure that no focus, reflow or contrast issues exist on the system's update or replacement. This action will be completed by September 2026.

What we're doing to improve accessibility

We regularly monitor the accessibility of this website using automated Quality Assurance software. We use this software to identify and fix any issues that arise. We also use tools such as 'Accessibility Insights for Web' to assess our websites and find and fix issues.

We work with our suppliers and third parties to ensure compliance with standards and plan for improvements and fixes where possible.

Disproportionate burden

The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications)(No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 require public sector bodies, subject to various exemptions and conditions, to:

Make public sector websites and mobile applications accessible.
Provide an accessibility statement.

The accessibility regulations state that a public sector body does not need to meet the accessibility requirement if this would put a disproportionate burden on them, provided that a disproportionate burden assessment is undertaken. The following disproportionate burden assessments relate to a) inacessible PDFs on our site:

Inaccessible PDFs

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents don’t meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be marked up so they’re accessible to a screen reader. We now have governance in place to make replacements in an accessible format. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards unless we determine that they represent a disproportionate burden within the meaning 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 don’t require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.

Our assessment of the burden of making the large number of PDFs on our site into accessible versions is that:

there are historical documents created by the organisation
each document would require a number of hours of work to be recreated in a fully accessible version (estimated based on extensive experience of converting the active documents at between 2 and 30 hours per document, depending on length and complexity, plus any required sign-off)
many of the documents are officially published and publishing a new version requires detailed checking, a formal sign-off process
many of the documents contain complex elements which are difficult to retrospectively convert, such as detailed tables, graphs, and diagrams

Also relevant to this decision are that:

Interest in these documents is low – few people access them
The documents do meet accessibility requirements for a large number of users, although some groups will find them disproportionately difficult
Of the documents we are proposing would represent a disproportionate burden, requests for additionally accessible versions are rare
We have and will always assist with accessible versions on request

Assessment

Where documents are no longer in active use, or no longer being updated, there is a high cost in terms of employee hours to convert. Some documents are part of the public record, but no longer represent the current position, and interest is limited. We always respond to requests for different formats on a case-by-case basis, so accessible versions are available on demand, with a short lead-time.

We consider that the costs of converting older documents where there is little evidence of demand would be a poor use of limited staff time, and would represent a disproportionate burden on the organisation in terms of cost.

Preparation of this statement

This statement was prepared on 25 September 2025. This statement was last reviewed on 23 October 2025.

This website was last tested by Zoocha in August 2023 using automated software and manual testing. The following technology was used: NVDA screen reader with Firefox, JAWS screen reader with Chrome, Magnification programme, high contrast colour on PC, Voiceover and Zoom with iOS on mobile and a review of selected elements with Switch Control and Voice Control.