The publishing platform created by councils, for councils.

LocalGov CMS

With LocalGov Drupal you get more than just a free CMS to develop best practice websites.

You’ll have the option of joining a community of developers, content designers and digital leaders from 41 (and counting) local councils across the UK who share code, user research and ideas to help each other build incredible sites.

There isn't another platform for local authorities that has been built purely for councils, by councils. 

Ultimately as part of LocalGov Drupal you'll deliver a much better digital experience for your citizens while saving money.

It is there for the taking. Give it a road test and see what you think. There's no commitment or anything. And if you like it, then come and have a chat with the people who are using and building it and get involved.

New features are being developed all the time, all based on the real-world needs of councils. 

While smaller councils could use LocalGov Drupal without too much customisation, we also see the distribution as a starting point for extension. Many councils choose to extend the default functionality with custom development for their sites and we aim to take this into account when releasing future updates.

You can view most the out-of-the-box capability on our demo site, or look at some examples of council websites using it, or get in touch and we'll be happy to give you a tour and answer any questions.

LocalGov Drupal is built on Drupal 9. 

Front End Features

Content Page types

Back end features

  • revisions and history module  
  • approvals dashboard  
  • large variety of patterns, styles and call outs 

Development

  • quick start install
  • modular architecture
  • automated testing
  • automated checks for coding standards

Accessibility

The LocalGov Drupal content and functionality is designed to meet or exceed WCAG 2.1 level AA. The project also has a target for the administration interface to meet or exceed level AA.

 

Additional features are being continuously developed - see the Product Roadmap for what is being worked on. 

 

Theme and Design 

We have built a scalable base theme which you can use as the base for your LocalGov Drupal website.

We also include a sample “subtheme” called “Scarfolk” which uses this base theme. This shows you how simple it is to create a custom look and feel for your site.

You will notice a consistency of design patterns between different LocalGov Drupal sites (see some examples). These design patterns are created using best-practice, data-driven components from our research and also based on the GOV.UK design system.

You are, however, free to extend any templates and/or CSS/JS to ensure that the design of your LGD site exactly matches your council brand guidelines. That’s part of the beauty of using an open source system.

This is a really good example of a tool where, it's easy to implement, it's low cost, low code, essentially, it's quite straightforward to implement. And it works! And really, that's what they should be doing, so that the money giving to councils is invested in the right ways to really transform people's lives.
Melanie Read, Head of Digital, Waltham Forest

More reasons to choose LocalGov Drupal

  • The base theme is lightweight, WCAG AA accessible and responsive.
  • Many of our content formats and patterns are based on Government Digital Service standards. 
  • Everything we’ve built is based on user research and tried and tested by the public sector. 
  • Members of our community have complete control over their websites and subsites. 
  • The code is generic enough for councils to use with ease and adaptable enough to create unique websites. 
  • Content designers, editors and managers can easily make content changes and quickly react to needs of the public and elected representatives.
  • Developers can add functionality but also gain functionality that has been worked on collectively.
  • We always think long-term and are creating council websites on a platform that will stand the test of time.
  • The platform is updated regularly with the latest security updates. 

 

If you would like to find out more or have any questions just drop us a line at hello@localgovdrupal.org. We are always happy to chat about LocalGov Drupal, provide a demo of the platform, or show how councils are using it.