Accessibility statement

While most of our main website is accessible, some areas are not. These are generally where we use a third party site or plug in to provide the information or service. These third party applications are partly or wholly out of our control and so may not conform to the same levels of accessibility as the rest of the website. We have provided details below about how we are working to address this.

If you need information on this website in a different format like large print, easy read, audio recording or braille please contact us, or call 01883 722000. We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 10 working days.

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, please contact us or call 01883 722000.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. If you are not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

The reception area, council chamber and interview rooms have induction loops which amplify sound for those with hearing aids, or if you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.

We provide a text relay service for people who are deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment.

Deaf and hard of hearing residents can send Customer Services a text message by sending a text to 07786 200690 and using the word TANDRIDGE at the start of their message.

This statement was prepared on 18 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 16 February 2026.

We are committed to making the website 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 (WCAG) version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below, which are all third party plug-in sites.

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Forms

We use a forms package to create our forms called Form Assembly. Our forms are built and hosted through third party software and skinned to look like our website.

Our form controls do not all have labels which fails 1.3.1 (Information and Relationship) of the WCAG2.2 criteria, which makes it difficult to complete using assistive technology. We are working to fix this.

Our  forms do not allow the user to keyboard tab to the hamburger menu in the header. We are working to resolve this. 

As part of our digital transformation project our forms will be changing and we will aim to address any outstanding accessibility issues as part of this.

Planning

Our planning application search is not fully accessible, it is:

• Missing alternative text for image buttons (1.1.1 (Non-text Content).
• Missing form label 1.3.1 (Information and Relationships).

We are working to resolve these issues.

We do not make planning documents accessible before adding them to the website. The documents are taken from the Planning Portal. 

Planning appeal documents 

We have a large number of planning appeals, which require a lot of documents to be added to the website. There are often more than 200 documents for each appeal, from the appellant and our planning team. Due to the time involved in making these accessible and our capacity to do this work, we have decided not to make them fully accessible. Anyone who needs an accessible version is advised to contact us. 

Planning policy maps

We use a mapping service to provide maps for our planning policies and this system is not fully accessible.

We are working with the supplier to see how we can improve the map system and will update this information. Customers can contact us to find out how we can help them access the information in a different way.

Homechoice

Our Home Choice system which people on the housing register use to bid for council houses is currently not fully accessible. We are working with the supplier to resolve these issues.

Events

On the events page the tab order is not consistent. The autocomplete for the location name is incorrectly formatted.

All pages

The tab order is not consistent.

PDFs

We make the majority of our pdfs accessible before adding them to the website, but some which are essential to providing information about our services, 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).

The main exceptions have been in relation to documents produced to support Local Plan consultations, as there are a huge number of often very large and complex documents, many produced by other companies.

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. We have very few inaccessible documents apart from those listed above, as we have been making pdfs accessible for many years.

Live video

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

We do host videos on our YouTube site, which we link to from our website. We will be captioning videos produced since 2018. Any new videos added will include captions.

Third party content

This is content under someone else’s control which we did not pay for or develop.

Planning Portal: We use some content and services provided by Planning Portal, which is a private company and exempt from the regulations. This will include documents we receive from applicants who have used the Planning Portal to upload their documents, which are submitted to us.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are working to resolve all identified accessibility issues which are within our control. We are working with suppliers to resolve any identified accessibility issues where we do not have direct control over their product.

We require any new third party systems we commission for the website are Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 AA compliant.

If you find a particular issue not listed in this statement please use this contact form.

This website is tested every few days by Silktide. All pages of the main website and PDF documents within the website were tested. We have scored 95/100 for accessibility, 98% is compliant for level A WCAG 2.1 checks and 88% is compliant for level AA WCAG 2.1 checks and 83% for level AAA (at February 2026).

This testing does not include all third party provided sub-sites which make up the website. These include our forms, payment page, committee system and mapping systems. We are in the process of testing and reviewing all of these and will provide an update as soon as possible.

We also had a high level indicative audit of the website carried out by Smarter Digital Services in February 2020. This involved a combination of automated and manual testing. This tested the main website and not the additional third party sites that make up the website.