Policies

Preston Park Museum is part of Stockton Borough Council. You can read our Disclaimer here. 

Privacy

This website is run by Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council. We are committed to ensuring that information personal to you is kept in accordance with Data Protection legislation.

We set out what kind of information is collected by cookies used on www.stockton.gov.uk in a separate statement.

When you submit data to us we will only hold any information you send us for as long as necessary. All employees who have access to your personal data and are associated with the handling of that data will comply with Data Protection legislation. Communications to us are not shared with third parties unless there is a legal basis to do so. If your communication relates to or affects a third party the Council may refer your communication to that third party for their comments, response or information.

For more information about how we use your personal information, please view our Privacy Notices page. If you would like to exercise your rights in relation to your personal information such as request a copy of your personal information, please view and complete our Data Subject Access Request form.

Cookie Policy

A cookie is a small piece of text stored on your computer, phone or whatever you use to surf the internet.

Cookies have many uses, but fundamentally they are used to store information about you on your computer.

We recommend you allow the cookies we set by this website as they help us provide a better service. If you set your browser to refuse cookies, please be aware that there may be functionality on various websites that do not work.

Rejecting and deleting cookies

Most modern browsers will allow you to:

  • See what cookies you’ve got and delete them on an individual basis.
  • Block third party cookies.
  • Block cookies from particular sites.
  • Block all cookies from being set.
  • Delete all cookies when you close your browser.

If you do not want to receive cookies from this website, select cookie settings under the privacy settings in your browser options, then add our domain to the list of websites you do not want to accept cookies from. Under settings, you can also delete individual cookies or any cookies that your browser has stored.

You can find more information on how to delete and control cookies at the About Cookies website.

Cookies used by www.prestonparkmuseum.co.uk

1. ‘Strictly necessary’ cookies

These cookies are essential in helping you to move around our websites and use their features, such as accessing secure areas of the website. Without these cookies, services you have asked for cannot be provided. These cookies do not gather information about you that could be used for marketing or remembering where you’ve been on the internet.

We currently use no cookies in this category.

2. Functional Cookies

These cookies allow websites and applications to remember choices you make (such as your user name, language or the region you are in) and provide enhanced, more personal features. The information these cookies collect is usually anonymised which means we can’t identify you personally. They do not gather any information about you that could be used for selling advertising or remembering where you’ve been on the internet but may help with serving advertising.

We currently use no cookies in this category.

3. Analytics Cookies

In order to keep our digital products and services relevant, easy to use and up-to-date, we use web analytics services to help us understand how people use them. For example, we can see which parts of the services are most popular, identify when errors occur, and test different versions of a page or feature to see which one works best.

We currently use a number of cookies from Google Analytics.

The Google Analytics cookies contain a randomly generated ID used to recognise your browser when you read a page. The cookie contains no personal information and is used only for web analytics. Google Analytics sets the following cookies by default as described in the table below. Further information can be found on the Google Analytics website.

__utma
This cookie is used to determine unique visitors to our site and it is updated with each page view.
2 years from set/update

__utmb
This cookie is used to establish and continue a user session with our site. Each time a user visits a different page on our site, this cookie is updated to expire in 30 minutes, thus continuing a single session for as long as user activity continues within 30-minute intervals. This cookie expires when a user pauses on a page on our site for longer than 30 minutes.
30 minutes from set/update.

__utmc
This cookie operates in conjunction with the __utmb cookie to determine whether or not to establish a new session for the user. In particular, this cookie is not provided with an expiration date, so it expires when the user exits the browser.
Not set.

__utmz
This cookie stores the type of referral used by the visitor to reach our site, whether via a direct method, a referring link, a website search, or a campaign such as an ad or an email link. It is used to calculate search engine traffic, ad campaigns and page navigation within our own site. The cookie is updated with each page view to your site.
6 months from set/update.

4. Targeting cookies

Cookies may be placed on your device by our third party service providers which remember that you have visited a website in order to provide you with targeted adverts which are more relevant to you and your interests. This is often called online behavioural advertising (OBA) (also known as ‘behavioural targeting’ or ‘interest based advertising’) and is done by grouping together shared interests based upon previous web browsing activity.

We currently use no cookies in this category.

5. Other third party cookies

Please note that on some pages of our websites you may notice that cookies have been set that are not related to Preston Park Museum and Grounds or our authorised service providers. When you visit a page with content embedded from, for example, YouTube or Facebook, these service providers may set their own cookies on your web browser. These anonymous cookies may be set by that third party to track the success of their application or to customise their application to you. Preston Park Museum and Grounds does not control the use of these cookies and cannot access them due to the way that cookies work, as cookies can only be accessed by the party who originally set them. You should check the third party websites for more information about these cookies.

Museum and Gardens Terms & Conditions:

  1. Entry to Preston Park Museum will be on presentation of a valid ticket only.
  2. Tickets are non-refundable, non-transferable and must be produced on each visit.
  3. Proof of entitlement may be required for concessions.
  4. Children under 16 must be accompanied and supervised by an adult at all times.
  5. All visitors must comply with requirements of statutory authorities whilst visiting the Museum site, including Fire and Health & Safety.
  6. No smoking, including the use of electronic or e-cigarettes is permitted on the Museum site.
  7. No dogs, except assistance dogs are permitted.
  8. To collect tickets, the cardholder must present the card used to book the tickets as identification.
  9. Please check your tickets upon receipt and advise us promptly of any errors.
  10. We reserve the right to refuse admission or request visitors to leave at any time.

General Competition Terms & Conditions:

  1. Competitions are open to residents of the UK aged 18 years or over, except employees of Stockton Borough Council and any associated partners.
  2. Details of how to enter form part of the terms and conditions and will be outlined in the Competition Details. It is a condition of entry that all rules are accepted as final and that the competitor agrees to abide by these rules. The decision of the judges is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
  3. Entrants must submit their personal information as requested when entering the competition. Entry is restricted to one per person and once submitted, an entry cannot be amended.
  4. Late, illegible or incomplete entries will not be accepted. No responsibility can be accepted for lost entries.
  5. The opening date and closing date for entries are as indicated in the Competition Details. For each draw, one winner will be drawn from the entries received by the closing date. Winners will be drawn at random by Preston Park Museum & Grounds, whose decision is final.
  6. The winners will be contacted within seven days of the closing date of the prize draw. Should the Promoter be unable to contact a winner or should a winner be unable to accept their prize, the Promoter reserves the right to award that prize to an alternative winner, drawn in accordance with these terms and conditions.
  7. The prizes as described is available on the date of publication. Should a prize or any part of a prize become unavailable, a substitute of equal value will be provided.
  8. The prize is non-transferable and no substitutions or cash equivalents are permitted.
  9. It is the responsibility of the prize winner to collect their prize from Preston Park Museum & Grounds, unless otherwise stated in the Competition Details.
  10. By accepting the prize, winners agree that the Promoter may publish their names and address towns/counties in any media in connection with the prize draw. The names of winners will be available on written request to Preston Park Museum & Grounds.
  11. We reserve the right to amend these Terms and Conditions at any time and without notice.
  12. Promoter: Preston Park Museum & Grounds, Yarm Road, Stockton-On-Tees TS18 3RH.

Accessibility statement

Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council is committed to making the Preston Park website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This statement applies to www.prestonparkmuseum.co.uk

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
  • zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

We have also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

Visit the AbilityNet website which has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

Compliance status

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

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Some pages require scrolling in two dimensions on small screens this fails WCAG 2.1 AA 1.4.10.

Controls do not change appearance when selected to help with keyboard navigation this fails WCAG 2.0 AA 2.4.7.

Some pages do not include a top-level heading and there are some empty headings which fails WCAG 2.0 A 1.3.1.

The images used on this website do not include alt text which fails WCAG 2.0 A 1.1.1.

There is on function to allow users to skip to the main content on a page this fails WCAG 2.0 A 2.4.1.

Some form controls do not have labels which may make them difficult for users to complete this fails WCAG 2.0 A 1.3.1. Some form fields also don’t include an autocomplete attribute that identifies the purpose of fields programmatically, this fails WCAG 2.1 AA 1.3.5.

Some of our interactive components including our social media links and page number buttons are not far enough apart from other components which fails WCAG 2.2 AA 2.5.8.

First time visitors to our website are presented with a cookie banner which obscures the focus of where the user is on the page this fails WCAG 2.2 AA 2.4.11. This is also an issue on mobile on some of our event pages when the content renders differently causing some of the focus to be lost when selecting elements at the top of the page.

PDFs

PDFs included on this website are not accessible because:

  • they are not machine readable which fails WCAG 2.0 A 1.1.1
  • they do not include a title which fails WCAG 2.0 A 2.4.2
  • they do not include headings or tags which fails WCAG 2.0 A 1.3.1

 

Link text

Link text used on this website is not accessible because:

  • some link text used does not explain the purpose which fails WCAG 2.0 A 2.4.4
  • the same link text is sometimes used for different destinations which fails WCAG 2.0 A 2.4.4
  • some links are only distinguished by colour which means that those with a visual impairment may not be able to tell they are a link this fails WCAG 2.0 A 1.4.1

 

Contrast

There are issues with colour contrast on this website including:

  • on some parts of the website the colour contrast between background and text is not sufficient, this fails WCAG 2.0 AA 1.4.3
  • some form controls do not contrast sufficiently with the background colour used which fails WCAG 2.1 AA 1.4.11

 

Content is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

Our online maps are exempt from accessibility regulations however, we are continually trying to make them as accessible as possible.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are working to redevelop the Preston Park website and plan to launch a new, more accessible website in April 2025.

We are currently working across our services to ensure all content produced for the website is in an accessible format. We plan to regularly review our accessibility through user testing for new content and online services as well and manual testing using NVDA and diagnostic software such as Wave, Axe and Silktide to ensure compliance of WCAG 2.2 AA standards and AAA where possible.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 21 January 2021. It was last reviewed on 12 August 2024.

This website is tested regularly using diagnostic software called Silktide. Manual testing is also carried out on a regular basis for new content. Testing is carried out by our Digital and Website Development Team.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

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, contact digital.accessibility@stockton.gov.uk

Feedback and contact information

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

  • email museum@stockton.gov.uk
  • call 01642 527375

We’ll consider your request and get back to you as soon as possible.

If you contact us before your visit, we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.

Call us on 01642 527375 to start the process.

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 are not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).