Date: 13/07/2009
High Peak Borough Council has improved its website for residents who cannot see well or who have difficulties in reading by installing software that lets the website talk to them.
High Peak Borough and Staffordshire Moorlands District Councils have together bought BrowseAloud technology that lets their websites speak at the click of a mouse.
To activate BrowseAloud, all people have to do is visit the home page of either council, click the icon at the foot of the page and install the software. BrowseAloud will then speak the content of not only the council websites but also any other website with the facility, including the BBC website. The High Peak web address is www.highpeak.gov.uk and Staffordshire Moorlands www.staffsmoorlands.gov.uk.
The joint purchase is the latest in a series of value-for-money initiatives from the two authorities since they formed a strategic alliance in June last year.
Said Emily Thrane, High Peak's executive councillor for corporate services: "We are always looking for ways of making our website more accessible, and the opportunity to offer BrowseAloud with Staffordshire Moorlands was too good to miss".
The two councils already have a number of shared services including environmental health, grounds maintenance and a Clean Team for tackling litter and fly tipping. Other combined services will go live this year, including a shared property services arrangement with Derbyshire County Council starting in September.