Accessibility Statement — Gardening West Ham

This Accessibility Statement explains how Gardening West Ham strives to make gardening in West Ham accessible to as many people as possible. It covers our commitment, the standards we follow, and the practical features we provide to support accessible gardening activities across the West Ham community and nearby neighbourhoods.

We are committed to meeting the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard for all digital content related to our gardening West Ham resources. Our approach is guided by inclusive design principles so that residents, volunteers and local gardeners can access information about community gardening, planting sessions and site access.

Our accessible Gardening West Ham pages and materials are tested for screen-reader support and logical content structure. We use semantic headings, clear link text, and alt descriptions for images to assist people using assistive technologies, including those relying on screen readers and speech-output tools.

Navigation and keyboard access are essential. We ensure that navigation menus, interactive maps of the West Ham gardening sites, and event booking options are operable using keyboard-only controls. This helps people who cannot use a mouse to find local gardening opportunities in the West Ham area.

Key accessibility features include:

• WCAG 2.1 AA compliance across core pages and published materials;
• Screen-reader support through semantic markup, ARIA where appropriate, and consistent headings;
• Full keyboard navigation for menus, forms and interactive widgets;
• Readable content with sufficient colour contrast and scalable text for people with low vision.

We aim to make on-site and off-site resources inclusive too: printed materials about community gardening and guidance for volunteers use accessible fonts, clear layouts, and alternative formats when requested. Our digital event notices and West Ham gardening updates are created so they can be enlarged without loss of content or functionality.

We regularly review and test our content using a combination of automated tools and manual checks that include keyboard-only navigation and screen-reader walkthroughs. When we identify issues, we prioritise fixes based on impact and frequency, applying updates to both the gardening West Ham pages and related resources.

If you encounter barriers while accessing information about gardening in West Ham — whether on a webpage, within a downloadable document, or in event communications — please let us know through our organisation's general contact channels so we can help and improve accessibility.

When reporting an accessibility request, describe the content or service you are having trouble accessing, the device and browser you are using, and any assistive technology involved. We treat these requests seriously and aim to respond in a timely manner and, where possible, provide alternative formats or interim workarounds that support participation in gardening activities across the West Ham community.

We continue to invest in training, design updates and testing to improve accessibility across all Gardening West Ham communications. Our objective is not just compliance but genuine inclusion so everyone interested in local green spaces, community gardening and volunteering in West Ham can participate.

For ongoing improvements we publish regular accessibility review notes and ensure new content follows the same accessible development practices. Thank you for supporting our efforts to make gardening in West Ham welcoming, usable and accessible for all.