Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to the Planning Portal.

This website is run by TerraQuest Solutions Ltd. 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 website text as simple as possible to understand.

AbilityNet¹ 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:

• navigation cannot be skipped to get to the main content when using a screen reader.
• some error messages are not immediately clear when using a screen reader.
• there are some minor colour contrast issues on our main content pages.
• there are some accessibility issues in PDFs.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format please contact:

• Email: support@planningportal.co.uk²
• Phone: 0333 323 4589

Available Monday - Friday, 9am - 5pm (excluding bank holidays). 

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: support@planningportal.co.uk³

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)⁴.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

TerraQuest Solutions Ltd 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 2.1⁵ AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Web content technologies relied upon

The technologies that this website relies upon is: JavaScript

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

• Navigation cannot be skipped to get to the main content when using a screen reader. This fails WCAG 2.1 A 2.4.1 (Bypass Blocks). We plan to fix it by October 2024.
• There are some error messages that are not explicitly read out; there is an indication that there is an error on the page. This fails WCAG 2.1 A 3.3.1 (Error Identification). We plan to fix it by October 2024.
• There are some minor colour contrast issues on content pages, where text is overlaid on top of images. This fails WCAG 2.1 AA 1.4.3 (Contrast Minimum). We plan to fix it by October 2024.
• Some id attribute values are not unique; no impact has been noticed in the instances this has occurred. This fails WCAG 2.1 A 4.1.1 (Parsing). We plan to fix it by October 2024.
• Some content elements in lists are not <li> elements; no impact has been noticed in the instances this has occurred. This fails WCAG 2.1 A 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships). We plan to fix it by October 2024.

PDF accessibility

• PDFs are generated without alternative text; for the most part this does not impact the accessibility of the PDF. This fails WCAG 2.1 A 1.1.1 (Non-text Content). We plan to fix it by October 2024.
• Tables and lists in generated PDFs are not conveyed in a way that can be picked up clearly by a screen reader. This fails WCAG 2.1 A 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships). We plan to fix it by June 2024.
• PDFs are generated without tagging to indicate the reading order, and hence do not include a logical reading or tab order. This fails WCAG 2.1 A 1.3.2 (Meaningful Sequence) and 2.4.3 (Focus Order). We plan to fix it by October 2024.
• PDFs are generated without a title in its document properties. This fails WCAG 2.1 A 2.4.2 (Page Titled). We plan to fix it by October 2024.
• The primary language of PDFs is not specified. This fails WCAG 2.1 A 3.1.1 (Language of Page). We plan to fix it by October 2024.
• The headings are not nested correctly in our PDFs. This fails WCAG 2.1 A 4.1.1 (Parsing). We plan to fix it by October 2024.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 31 January 2022. It was last reviewed in July 2024.

This website was last tested on 31 January 2022. The test was carried out by TerraQuest Solutions Ltd.

Each page was tested using axe, the automated accessibility tool, and a series of comprehensive manual accessibility test cases that reviewed that page against the WCAG 2.1 Level A and AA criteria. The screen reader used for testing was NVDA.

1. https://mcmw.abilitynet.org.uk/
2. mailto:support@planningportal.co.uk
3. mailto:support@planningportal.co.uk
4. https://www.equalityadvisoryservice.com/
5. https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/