The Council has become one of just a handful of local authorities in the country to receive the Royal National Institute for the Blind logo for Web accessibility.

The Web site boasts a wide range of features designed to help people with various disabilities and impairments.

Among the special accessibility features, Web users can increase the text size on all pages at the click of a button, and people who are colour blind can change the background colour on all pages to increase the contrast.

People who cannot use a mouse can navigate around the site using special access keys.  Furthermore, a range of technical help is built in to pages to help people using screen-readers to get the information they need quickly and simply.

The Web site is also designed to be extremely versatile, so potentially it will translate well to other devices such as PDAs and mobile phones – and therefore be made accessible to people without PCs.