Website accessibility
This website is run by Snowdonia National Park Authority. 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
- 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 text in the service as simple as possible to understand.
How accessible this website is
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:
- some PDF documents aren’t fully accessible to screen reader software
- some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
- you can’t skip to the main content when using a screen reader
- some information is presented as map data and not accessible using a screen reader
- some of our content is difficult to understand
- some pages need improved hyperlinking
- some form controls and buttons are not labelled
- some videos do not have captions
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 email park@snowdonia.gov.wales, alternatively you can call us on 01766 770274 from 9:00am – 5pm, Monday to Thursday, and from 9:00am – 4.30pm on Fridays.
We’ll consider your request and get back to you in seven days.
Reporting accessibility problems with this service
We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that aren’t listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact us by telephone: 01766 770274, email; park@snowdonia.gov.wales or you can submit your comments on our online contact form.
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
We can provide a text relay service for people who are deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment.
Our offices have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter to help you complete the service in person.
Please contact parc@snowdonia.gov.wales or call 01766 770274 for more information.
Technical information about this service’s accessibility
Snowdonia National Park Authority is committed to making this service 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 for the following reasons.
Issues with text
Some pages contain non-descriptive text links. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 2.4.4.
Issues with PDFs and other documents
Many of our older PDFs and other documents don’t meet accessibility standards – for example, they may not be marked up so they’re accessible to a screen reader.
Some of our 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.
We aim to ensure that any new documents we publish meet accessibility standards.
Issues with navigation
There’s no way to skip the repeated content in the page header (for example, a ‘skip to main content’ option). This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.1 (bypass blocks).
Some pages have non-distinguishable landmarks. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships.
Accessibility of our other websites and online services
We use some third party online services and websites to allow customers to interact and transact with us. These include (but are not limited to) online surveys, applying for job vacancies and applying for planning permission.
Not all these sites and online services meet the necessary standards for accessibility, and where they do not we are engaging with our suppliers to rectify this. We aim to rectify as much as possible by September 2020.
When procuring new online systems, meeting accessibility standards are included in the specification, and we continue to work with suppliers to ensure sites continue to meet these standards.
Alt text
Some images don’t have a text alternative, so the information in them isn’t available to people using a screen reader. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).
Issues with contrast
Some pages have low contrast errors. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) We aim to make all content reach the minimum required levels by September 2020.
Disproportionate burden
It has been deemed a disproportionate burden to caption video recordings of the Authority’s Planning and Access Committees. During the COVID-19 emergency, these discussions have been taking place remotely. They are recorded and uploaded to our website. Written minutes from these committees will be uploaded to the website upon approval by the relevant members.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
PDFs and other documents
Many of our older PDFs and Word documents don’t meet accessibility standards – for example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role, value).
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. By September 2020, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.
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. For example, we don’t plan to fix our Primary Factsheets PDFs on our Basic Factsheets page.
Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will aim to meet accessibility standards.
Maps
Many of our online maps are embedded in our website and do not meet accessibility standards. These include (but are not limited to) planning areas, common land, local plan policy areas, tree preservation orders (TPO) and conservation areas, ecology sites, heritage sites and transport links.
The accessibility regulations don’t require us to fix online maps or mapping services, as long as essential information is provided in an accessible digital manner for maps intended for navigational use.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
We are currently in the process of developing a new website for the Authority. Whilst we are continuously working on accessibility issues on our current website, our main aim is working towards making our new site fully accessible. A beta version of our new website will be launched in September 2021.
We are actively working on solutions to the issues raised in this statement. Priority will be given to the issues identified as a high priority. We will then move on to resolve the issues with lower priority.
This statement will be reviewed regularly to report on our progress.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on October 20, 2020. It was last reviewed on November 25, 2020.
This website is tested every 5 days. The test was carried out by using the website monitoring platform, Silktide.