How LocalGov Drupal supports strategic planning and accountability during LGR

This is the fourth article in our five-part series examining how LocalGov Drupal can support local authorities through reorganisation and devolution. Our previous articles explored how LocalGov Drupal provides a standardised platform that can help achieve efficiency goals, facilitate digital integration for newly formed authorities, and communicate the statutory Devolution Framework clearly to residents.

Local authorities undergoing reorganisation face a tension that doesn't get talked about enough. The statutory requirements — Local Growth Plans, Spatial Development Strategies, new accountability structures — are complex and technical by nature. But the communities they affect are not planners or policy specialists. Getting that communication right is one of the hardest parts of any reorganisation, and it's where digital infrastructure either helps or hinders.

The English Devolution White Paper introduces two interconnected challenges for local authorities: delivering complex strategic planning processes while maintaining democratic accountability and community engagement. 

As Strategic Authorities take on new powers over planning and growth, they must simultaneously demonstrate transparency and empower communities to shape their areas.

The white paper creates statutory requirements for Mayoral Strategic Authorities to produce Local Growth Plans and requires all areas to develop Spatial Development Strategies. These technical documents must be made accessible and subject to meaningful consultation. 

At the same time, the white paper emphasises that: "Devolution can only restore trust in politics if citizens can easily access information about what their local leaders are empowered to deliver, and hold them to account."

These aren't separate challenges – they're deeply interconnected. Strategic planning documents shape communities' futures, so consultation processes must genuinely engage residents. Democratic accountability depends on clear communication about complex governance arrangements and planning decisions.

Overcoming the great engagement challenge 

Traditional approaches have often fallen short - lengthy PDFs, planning jargon, and consultations that required attending a physical meeting all excluded residents from decisions that directly affected their lives. As authorities take on new powers, the challenges multiply: technical data needs to be accessible to non-specialists, strategies need to stay current as plans evolve, and residents across larger geographic areas need to feel connected to decisions being made in their name.

Digital platforms must address both challenges simultaneously – supporting genuine engagement with strategic planning while building transparent, accountable relationships between authorities and their communities.

Why LocalGov Drupal is the foundation for moving forward

LocalGov Drupal offers a solid base for addressing these challenges, built on features specifically designed for local government communication and engagement.

Core content capabilities

The platform provides structured content types to support clear communication about plans, strategies, and democratic processes:

• Publications content type for managing strategic documents with version control
• Guide pages for breaking down complex proposals into digestible sections
• News articles for communicating updates on consultation and planning processes
• Service pages for explaining how new powers and responsibilities affect residents
• Directories for connecting residents with community groups and organisations

These features support the basic requirement of making strategic information accessible. However, accessibility means more than just publishing documents online. Here are three other LocalGov Drupal benefits. 

1. Accessibility by design

LocalGov Drupal's commitment to accessibility standards ensures that strategic documents and consultation processes are genuinely accessible to all residents, including those using assistive technologies. This isn't just about legal compliance – it's about ensuring everyone can participate in shaping their area's future.

2. Consistent architecture across boundaries

The platform's standardised approach to information architecture helps maintain clarity even as governance structures change. When responsibilities shift between authorities or new Strategic Authorities are created, the consistent structure helps residents navigate these changes.

3. Community collaboration: Building features together

Where LocalGov Drupal particularly excels is in its community collaboration model. When authorities identify common needs, they can work together to develop shared solutions, rather than each commissioning separate development. This ‘build to share’ approach reduces costs while ensuring features are designed for real-world local government requirements.

Later in this article, we set out five practical steps authorities can take now — but first, two real-world examples that show how these principles work in practice.

How the LocalGov Elections module supports democratic reporting

When Cumberland Council faced the challenge of reporting election results for its founding election in 2022, Rohallion developed a custom application that enabled real-time reporting of results as they were declared. 

The stakes were high – this was one of the first ventures into LocalGov Drupal for the new unitary authority, and national news outlets would be monitoring the results.

The success of that initial application led to a broader opportunity. LocalGov Drupal asked Rohallion to contribute the work to their platform as open source, funded by Cumberland Council and Westmorland & Furness Council. This meant transforming a bespoke solution into a truly open-source module that any council could use.

The LocalGov Elections module demonstrates several principles relevant to strategic planning engagement:

• Handling complexity behind a simple interface 
  Election results involve complicated data structures – wards, candidates, parties, vote counts, and geographic boundaries. The module manages this complexity while presenting results in a clear, accessible format. Strategic planning faces similar challenges: complex spatial data and economic statistics must be made understandable.
• Progressive disclosure of information
  The module allows users to view overall results first, then drill down into specific wards or candidates. This progressive disclosure approach is equally valuable for strategic documents, where residents might want high-level summaries before accessing detailed technical content.
• Integration with geographic data
  It also includes boundary-provider plugins that connect electoral areas to geographic data. This capability has clear parallels with Spatial Development Strategies, which must communicate how planning proposals affect specific locations.
• Public transparency with appropriate controls
  Another function is the balancing of transparency (public display of results) with proper process management (internal review before publication). Strategic planning consultation requires a similar balance – gathering input while managing the process appropriately.

The module has already been extended beyond its initial scope. It now supports multiple election types and can include social media integration, allowing communications teams to post results directly from a single platform. This evolution demonstrates how shared modules grow and improve through community use.

Five steps to help future-proof accountability 

Based on Rohallion's experience and LocalGov Drupal's current capabilities, authorities can take practical steps to improve strategic planning engagement and community accountability:

1. Structure strategic documents for progressive disclosure

Use LocalGov Drupal's Guide pages to break down Local Growth Plans and Spatial Development Strategies into manageable sections. Present executive summaries first, then allow readers to access technical detail as needed. This mirrors the successful approach in the elections module.

2. Implement location-based information

Adapt the Cumbria postcode routing approach to help residents understand how strategic plans affect their specific area. This counters the risk of strategic planning feeling remote from daily life.

3. Maintain transparency through consistent updates

Use news articles and the publications content type to keep communities informed about planning processes, consultation outcomes, and decision-making progress. Regular communication builds trust.

4. Connect strategies to delivery

Create clear links between high-level plans and the specific projects that deliver them. LocalGov Drupal's topic-based architecture helps connect strategic documents to related service and project information.

5. Build on the community collaboration model

Engage with the LocalGov Drupal community to identify common needs and potential shared development. If multiple authorities need similar accountability or engagement features, collaborative development can share costs and improve outcomes.

Conclusion

The authorities that navigate reorganisation most successfully won't just be the ones that get their governance structures right — they'll be the ones that bring residents with them. That requires digital infrastructure built for local government, not adapted from generic platforms. Rohallion has been doing this work with councils through LocalGov Drupal since 2022, and the examples in this article are drawn from real projects, not hypothetical ones.

What's next?

In our final article, we'll summarise the most important takeaways from this series to help make the transition as smooth as possible for local authorities using LocalGov Drupal. 

Read the previous article in the series, or get in touch with us below to discuss your next LocalGov Drupal project.