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Accessibility statement for flood map for planning

This accessibility statement applies to flood-map-for-planning.service.gov.uk.

This website is run by the Environment Agency. 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 using browser or device settings
  • zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using a keyboard or 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.

AbilityNet 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:

  • the mapping, and the tools that are part of it, are not fully accessible for those using assistive technology. Also in some situations the contrast of colours is not high enough to be legible to all users
  • we link to guidance on GOV.UK that includes PDF documents that are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • the printable map that can be downloaded is in PDF form, so may not be fully accessible to screen reader software

Feedback and contact information

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we're not meeting accessibility requirements, contact:

If you need information on this website in a different format like an accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

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) .

Technical information about this website's accessibility

The Environment Agency 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

The website has been tested against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard.

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Content that's not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

The website has the following content which is out of scope of the accessibility regulations:

  • online maps
  • third party content which is out of our control, for example a corporate logo on the map the website uses
  • PDF content that was published before 23 September 2018

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We commit to providing alternative, non-digital access to the service where requests are made to the Environment Agency.

We commit to providing accessible PDFs where requests are made to the Environment Agency.

Improvements to out of scope content

Online maps are not within the scope of the accessibility regulations. However, we are committed to making our website as accessible as possible.

We are exploring ways to improve colour contrast on mapping.

We are exploring ways to improve how the website works for keyboard navigation and assistive technology.

We are also working to fix the following map issues found in our most recent accessibility test:

  • on the interactive map the heading structure of the page does not make use of a logical structure, which means screen reader users may not be able to identify the structure and relationship of content (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1, info and relationships)
  • on the interactive map some heading text is styled as bold text, which means screen reader users cannot identify this as a heading (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1, info and relationships)
  • there is nothing to indicate to screen reader users that the draw a boundary content is interactive, or what its purpose is (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1, info and relationships)
  • on the interactive map colour was used as the only way of identifying keyboard focus in the listbox results when a user searches. This means that low vision users navigating the site using a keyboard may not be able to determine the focus on the page (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.1, use of colour)
  • the interactive map relies on the difference in colour alone to indicate the difference in flood zones, which means it may not be possible for some users to tell them apart (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.1, use of colour)
  • the ability to change the shape of a boundary is only available to users navigating the service using a mouse, which means users who cannot use a mouse to drag items are unable to edit the shape (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.1.1, keyboard)
  • on the interactive map, when selecting an option from the search listbox, users may not be able to cancel their selection once they have clicked the mouse. This means the list keeps closing and will not let the user select an option or scroll down the list without using the keyboard (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.5.2, pointer cancellation)
  • the ability to change the shape of a boundary is only available to users navigating the service using a mouse, which means users who cannot use a mouse to drag items are unable to edit the shape (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.5.7, dragging movements)
  • screen reader users are not provided with instructions on how to navigate to the map content (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 3.3.2, labels or instructions)
  • there is nothing to indicate to screen reader users that the draw a boundary content is interactive, or what its purpose is (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2, name, role, value)
  • when adding a site boundary, there are multiple buttons on the page such as ‘Add’, ‘Edit’ and ‘Delete’ that do not have descriptive accessible name to describe their purpose (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.6, headings and labels)
  • content on the ‘Key’ panel of the map page could not be magnified without loss of information or functionality and without scrolling in 2 dimensions (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.10, reflow)
  • on the ‘Key’ panel of the map page, the colour contrast of the orange ‘Flood defence’ symbol against the white background does not meet the threshold, which may be problematic for some visually impaired users (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.11, non-text contrast)
  • the colour contrast of the overlapping data regions in the interactive map does not meet the threshold, which may be problematic for some visually impaired users (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.11, non-text contrast)
  • the colour contrast of the black target selector against the dark blue ‘Flood zone 3’ region does not meet the threshold, which may be problematic for some visually impaired users (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.11, non-text contrast)

Improvements made following accessibility testing

We have fixed the following issues after our most recent accessibility test:

  • visibly hidden content is still conveyed to screen reader users, which can be confusing (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1, info and relationships)
  • radio buttons have not been grouped appropriately, which does not give enough description for screen reader users to identify their purpose when out of context (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1, info and relationships)
  • the interactive map on mobile devices was highly problematic for screen reader users (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1, info and relationships)
  • the interactive map on mobile devices was highly problematic for screen reader users (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.1.1, keyboard)
  • on the ‘Check your details’ page an image is provided to users so that they can see their selected location. The image receives keyboard focus, which may be disorientating for users navigating by keyboard alone (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.3, focus order)
  • on returning to the ‘Order your flood risk data’ page via the ‘Back’ link, the ‘Full name’ data previously entered by the user is not retained (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 3.3.7, redundant entry)
  • on the ‘Check your details’ page an image is provided to users so that they can see their selected location. An alternative to the image is provided to screen reader users but this is not conveyed when using the NVDA screen reader (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2, name, role, value)
  • the ‘Hide this message’ button used in the cookie banner does not have a descriptive accessible name to describe its purpose (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.6, headings and labels)

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 30 March 2022. It was last reviewed on 2 May 2025.

This website was last tested against the WCAG 2.2 AA standard on 13 March 2025.

The test was carried out by the Digital Accessibility Centre (DAC).

They tested pages forming the most popular user journeys through the service using 2 processes:

  • a manual technical audit using automated tools
  • a dedicated team of user testers with differing disabilities test using a range of adaptive technologies.

You can read the full accessibility test report (PDF).