It was like Groundhog Day.
At each of the councils where I was working, we were effectively rebuilding the same website over and over again. The same user needs, the same functionality, the same high costs. There had to be a better way!
This crippling inefficiency was the inspiration for LocalGov Drupal.
LocalGov Drupal is a web platform built by councils, for councils. Our unique, collaborative, open-source model helps councils create fully customisable and accessible websites at a fraction of the cost they might expect to pay.
Now, rather than starting from scratch every time, our 24 member councils build on the shoulders of those who have gone before. They collaborate to improve and refine our distribution with each new site build or feature enhancement.
I started thinking about councils sharing code while working at the Government Digital Service. The team built a platform that all government departments could use, and are still using to this day. This was, of course, www.gov.uk. I wondered whether this approach could also be applied to local government. Could a platform of shared components be created that all UK councils could use?
Drupal developer and agency owner Alick Mighall was also thinking about councils sharing code. He recalls mowing grass for another council. If one council can mow another’s grass, he thought, surely they could build their website too?
In 2018, I was product manager for Brighton & Hove City Council and Alick’s company was building the council a new site. We decided to make the code open source – and the rest is history.
When I moved to Croydon a year later, the opportunity arose to use the same code. Senior officers in Croydon and Brighton met and decided that Croydon would use the code. In return, they would share anything new that they built. That is where LocalGov Drupal was born.
The Local Digital Declaration – a shared ambition for the future of local public services, written by a collective of local authorities, sector bodies and government departments – and the accompanying Local Digital Fund (LDF) allowed us to grow.
From January 2020 to October 2021, we applied for and won additional funding, with which we could refactor all of the code so it was suitably generic for any council to pick up and use.
We could also develop as an organisation, work on our internal governance, and scale up to help more councils.
We’re still growing today, and the more councils that come on board the better our product.
We build new features through working groups, where interested councils can chip in time and work together. The councils decide on their aims, when they are going to meet and who will be involved, and then get on with it.
“Build on the shoulders of those who have gone before”
It sounds straightforward, and that’s because it’s designed to be. We share user research, insights and experience to make richer and more user-friendly functionality than we ever could as individual councils.
Our latest funding success (£400,000 continuation funding from LDF) will allow us to create more working groups (currently microsites and directories, with others on the way) and a new cooperative legal structure to help ensure our sustainability.
We look forward to welcoming many new councils into the project this year, so please get in touch if you’re interested in using the distribution or finding out more.