Accessibility statement for Hamble Parish Council

This accessibility statement applies to the website hambleparishcouncil.gov.uk.

This website is run by Hamble Parish 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 using your browser or device settings
  • zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate the whole website using just a keyboard, with a visible highlight showing where you are
  • 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.

AbilityNet (mcmw.abilitynet.org.uk) has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible this website is

The web pages meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 Level AA, apart from the automatic captions in one video player, which has a checked transcript on the same page. Many of our documents are not fully accessible:

  • many PDFs, including meeting papers, newsletters, finance documents, policies and forms, are not tagged, so screen readers may not read them in the right order or find their headings
  • some PDFs, including older minutes, finance and audit documents and councillors' registers of interests and declarations of office, are scanned images, so screen readers cannot read them
  • some Word documents do not use headings or table header rows

The information in these documents is available from the Parish Office. Contact us using the details below and we will provide it in a format that works for you, for example a typed copy, large print or by reading it to you.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format, such as accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, contact the Parish Office:

We'll consider your request and aim to provide the information within 10 working 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 the Parish Office using the details above. We aim to respond to accessibility reports within 5 working days.

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) at www.equalityadvisoryservice.com.

Technical information about this website's accessibility

Hamble Parish Council is committed to making its website 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 listed below. The web pages themselves meet the Level A and AA success criteria apart from the automatic captions on one recording; the other non-compliances relate to documents.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

  • Meeting papers: 547 agendas, minutes and meeting books published since September 2018 for Full Council, the Planning, Asset Management, Finance, Hamble Development, Mount Pleasant and Cemex Defence committees, working groups and the Annual Parish Meeting are not tagged, and 86 are scanned images. Screen reader users may not be able to read them, or may hear them in the wrong order. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criteria 1.1.1 (non-text content) and 1.3.1 (info and relationships). Papers saved directly from Word since September 2026 are accessible.
  • Finance and audit documents: 70 documents, including budgets, income and expenditure reports, payments lists and internal audit reports, are not tagged, and 28, including annual governance and accountability returns, accounting statements and audit notices, are scanned images. This fails success criteria 1.1.1 and 1.3.1.
  • Newsletters: the 76 Village Newsletters published since October 2018 are not tagged. This fails success criterion 1.3.1.
  • Policies, forms and service documents: 18 policies on the Policies and Guidance page, nine committee terms of reference, seven older policy copies on the Councillor Info page, the Councillor Handbook, the councillor application form (a scanned image), fees and charges, dinghy storage terms, the clock permit form, allotment regulations, the meeting space hire agreement, football policy, burial regulations and application forms, grant forms, the asset register and the mission statement are not tagged. The job application form, equal opportunities form and the Word copies of the Cemetery and Burial Policy do not use headings or table header rows. This fails success criteria 1.1.1 and 1.3.1.
  • Councillor registers of interests and declarations of office: 18 are scanned images and 3 are not tagged. This fails success criteria 1.1.1 and 1.3.1.
  • Other notices and documents linked from news posts: 74 are not tagged and 9 are scanned images, and 13 Word documents do not use headings or table header rows. This fails success criteria 1.1.1 and 1.3.1.
  • Radio Solent interview about Hamble Airfield: the captions in the video player were generated automatically and may contain mistakes. A transcript checked against the recording is provided on the same page. This fails success criterion 1.2.2 (captions).

The information in all of these documents is available from the Parish Office in a format that works for you, for example a typed copy, large print or by reading it to you.

Disproportionate burden

We are not claiming that any accessibility problems would be a disproportionate burden to fix.

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

PDFs and other documents published before 23 September 2018 do not need to be accessible unless they are essential to providing our services. This applies to 174 older documents, including meeting papers, newsletters and annual returns from before that date.

Content produced by other organisations and not funded, developed or controlled by the council is also outside scope. This includes documents from Hampshire County Council, Eastleigh Borough Council, the Information Commissioner's Office, the Hamble Oil Terminal, planning applicants and auditors, the HALC award video on YouTube, the embedded Google Maps and Google's spam protection on our forms.

What we're doing to improve accessibility

In October 2026 we reviewed every page of the website against WCAG 2.2 AA and made improvements to colours, keyboard use, headings, forms, image descriptions, link wording and page titles. New documents are being saved directly from Word so that they are accessible, and we will replace current policies and forms with accessible versions as they are reviewed. We will update this statement as documents are replaced.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 24 October 2026. It was last reviewed on 25 October 2026.

This website was last tested on 24 October 2026 against the WCAG 2.2 AA standard. The test was carried out by Smart Marketing. Every page and post on the website was tested, using automated testing with axe and WAVE, manual checks of colour contrast, keyboard navigation, zoom, text spacing and mobile use, a screen reader check with NVDA, empty submission of every form, and a check of every linked document.

We will review this statement by October 2027, or sooner if the website changes significantly.