Accessibility statement for Planning Application pages

Important: this accessibility statement relates to the old planning applications website.

We have recently moved to a new Planning and Building Control portal - the accessibility statement on this page will be updated in due course with details for the new portal.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

This accessibility statement applies to the planning applications website (not the main website – we have a separate accessibility statement for www.haringey.gov.uk here). Other Haringey sites we link to will have their own accessibility statements.

• How accessible this website is
• Feedback and contact information
  • Report accessibility problems with this website
  • Enforcement procedure
• Technical information about this website's accessibility
  • Compliance status
  • Non-compliance with accessibility regulations
  • Disproportionate burden
  • PDFs and other documents
• What we're doing to improve accessibility
• Preparation of this accessibility statement

How accessible this website is

We want as many people as possible to be able to use these web pages without difficulty. For example, that means you should be able to:

• change colours, contrast levels and fonts using your browser
• zoom in up to 400% without horizontal scrolling
• navigate the website using just a keyboard
• navigate the website using speech recognition software

The BBC has advice on making your device easier to use (external link) if you have a disability.

Most of the website should be accessible, however there are some known issues with the use of our search page, the zoom function, colour contrast, non-text content, grouping of navigation buttons and autocomplete value. See the full non-compliance list below.

Back to top

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille please see our Translation and Interpreting page.

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 10 working days.

Report 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 content@haringey.gov.uk

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) (external link).

Back to top

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Haringey 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 2.1 (external link) AA standard, due to the following ‘the non-compliances’ listed below.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

We are aware of the following issues:

• When people read through our application search page using a keyboard the focus order is not logical and requires the user to move through each form field then back up the page before user can interact with the form field date picker. This fails WCAG 2.4.3 (focus order).
• The browser zoom function does not allow a user to increase the size of content to 400% on the planning comment page without requiring scrolling. This fails WCAG 1.4.10 (reflow).
• Small text (smaller than 24px or 18px if bold) is below the standard contrast ratio on the application comment page. This fails WCAG 1.4.3 (contrast minimum).
• Alternative text is not provided for icons which are part of a form control. This fails WCAG 1.1.1 (non-text content).
• Form error messages are implemented using alert dialogues. The alert is shown visually but not consistently announced by screen readers and does not use an accessible pattern. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 (info and relationships).
• The date picker on the search page is inaccessible. It is shown visually but is not consistently announced by screen readers and does not follow an accessible pattern. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 (info and relationships).
• On the application comments window, groups of form fields are not structured appropriately meaning people using assistive technologies may not understand the relationships between the form fields and may have difficulty entering information into the form. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 (info and relationships).
• Labels are missing on form fields. People unable to see the screen, such as those using screen readers, use the text label to understand what information to enter into a form field. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 (info and relationships).
• On planning application details pages, HTML tables are not marked-up correctly. People using assistive technologies will not be able to understand the relationships in the table if the mark-up is incorrect. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 (info and relationships).
• The search results page does not have a unique title and the title did not fully describe the purpose of the page. This fails WCAG 2.4.2 (page titled).
• Some elements which act as a button had a role of a link instead of a button. This fails WCAG 4.1.2 (name, role, value).
• On the comments page, input fields that collect an individual's personal data has not been assigned the appropriate autocomplete value. This means the user will have to explicitly input data for each session, instead of being able to rely on autocomplete. This fails WCAG 1.3.5 (identify input purpose).

We are raising these points with our software supplier and will be procuring new planning software, which is expected to be in place by mid-2022. In the meantime, you can contact planningsupport@haringey.gov.uk if you cannot find the information you’re looking for.

Disproportionate burden

Not applicable

PDFs and other documents

• Some PDF files are not ‘tagged’, have no set title, and are missing text and/or not logically set out. These documents are not produced by the council and form part of planning applications submitted to us. These issues are being raised with those submitting the documents to the council, but we cannot always guarantee accessibility.

Back to top

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We plan to identify and fix the above issues according to the timescales shown above.

Back to top

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was first prepared on 10 March 2021.

This statement was last updated on 10 March 2021.

Planning pages and sample PDFs were tested on 12 October 2020 by Nomensa (external link). Subsequent fixes have not been re-tested.

Back to top