Gardeners Coombe Accessibility Commitment

Gardeners Coombe is committed to providing an inclusive and accessible digital experience for all visitors, including disabled people, older people, and anyone using assistive technologies. This Accessibility Statement explains the steps we take to ensure our website and online services for the Gardeners Coombe area are usable, understandable, and perceivable by as many people as possible.

Our Accessibility Standards

We aim for our website to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1, Level AA. These guidelines are internationally recognised standards for designing accessible websites and digital services. By working toward WCAG 2.1 AA compliance, we strive to make our content easier to see, hear, navigate, and understand for users with a wide range of access needs.

Our approach includes using clear structure, consistent layouts, and plain language where possible. We regularly review key pages to identify and address accessibility barriers that might affect people visiting or accessing information about Gardeners Coombe.

Screen-Reader Support

The website for Gardeners Coombe is designed to work with modern screen-reader software. We use semantic HTML so that headings, paragraphs, lists, and other elements are correctly identified and read out in a logical order.

Images used to present important information are given alternative text so that users who cannot see them can still understand the content. Where images are decorative and add no essential meaning, we aim to mark them so they can be skipped by screen readers, reducing unnecessary noise for blind and partially sighted users.

We also aim to ensure that form fields, buttons, and interactive components are labelled so that their purpose is clearly communicated by assistive technology.

Keyboard Navigation

We recognise that many people navigate websites without a mouse, using only a keyboard or alternative input devices. To support this, the Gardeners Coombe website is designed so that all interactive features can be accessed and operated via the keyboard alone.

Keyboard users should be able to move through the page in a logical order using the tab key and other standard keyboard commands. Focus states are designed to be visible so that users can see which element is currently selected. We aim to avoid keyboard traps, where a user cannot move away from a particular element using the keyboard.

Visual Design and Readability

We work to maintain sufficient colour contrast between text and background so that content is easier to read for people with low vision or colour-vision differences. Text is set with relative sizing so that users can zoom in using browser settings without content becoming unusable or hidden.

Layout and design choices are made to reduce clutter, support clear hierarchy of information, and make it easier for visitors to the Gardeners Coombe website to find the information they need about the local area and services.

Ongoing Improvements

Accessibility is an ongoing process. As we add new content and features relating to Gardeners Coombe, we aim to design and develop them with accessibility in mind from the start. We periodically review our website, fix identified issues where feasible, and look for ways to improve the experience for all users.

Some legacy content or third-party tools may not yet fully meet WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines. Where this happens, we will seek alternative solutions or improvements over time.

Contact for Accessibility Requests and Feedback

We welcome feedback from anyone who encounters accessibility barriers when using our website or accessing information about Gardeners Coombe. Your comments help us identify issues that automated checks may not detect and guide our future improvements.

If you experience difficulty using any part of the site, need information in a different format, or want to make an accessibility-related request, you can contact us through our usual correspondence channels described on our contact and information pages. Please include details of the page, the nature of the problem, and any assistive technology you are using. We will review your request and aim to respond in a reasonable timeframe.

We are committed to continuing to improve the accessibility of the Gardeners Coombe online experience so that everyone can access the information and services they need as independently as possible.