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Organizations Involved

Community contributions

Several contributions were made to the LocalGov Drupal Waste Collection module whilst working on this project. This improve the Whitespace API integration and the functionality of the module as a whole.

A number of other minor improvements and fixes where also applied to a few other modules, including the LocalGov Consultations module and the LocalGov Open Referral module.

Central Bedfordshire Council moved its public website off a legacy Jadu platform and onto LocalGov Drupal, building on the open source distribution and then applying the council's own brand to it rather than starting from a redesign. Content was extracted through the Jadu API and imported with Drupal's Migrate API, which meant the work could run in manageable, testable batches while editors carried on using the live site. In all, 2,762 pages, 24,410 directory records across 82 live directories, 1,452 news articles, 307 landing and homepages and 61 events were brought across. This included legacy files inherited from an earlier move from Tridion to Jadu, as well as URL redirects were so search rankings held.

Two resident facing widgets were built: a "Find your bin collection dates" tool drawing on FCC Environment's Whitespace API, and a searchable, sensitively handled Coroner's inquests listing fed from the WPC Coroners system. The services residents and staff already relied on stayed in place, including Cludo search, the ReciteMe accessibility toolkit, Google Analytics, custom RSS feeds, Site Improve, Sa11y and Editoria11y and character count tools, plus a MyAccount and Sign In component in the header designed to grow into single sign on later. A reverse CMS global wrapper lets Modern.Gov take its header, footer, navigation and styling straight from the Drupal site, so the wider digital estate stays in step automatically. Security and hosting were covered as well, with mandatory two factor authentication for every admin and editorial role, integrated with the council's Microsoft Active Directory, and a fully managed AWS environment with 24/7 Web Application Firewall monitoring across development, UAT and production.

About the project

Goals and requirements

  • Replatform off Jadu onto LocalGov Drupal.
  • Keep the branding but improve the look and feel of the site.
  • Move all content across intact, without losing SEO value.
  • Deliver accessible, responsive, on-brand components aligned with the council's global digital branding.
  • Retain the services residents and staff already relied on.
  • Enforce security: mandatory 2FA on all environments for administrative and editorial roles, integrated with Microsoft Active Directory.
  • Provide enterprise hosting and support: dedicated development, UAT and production environments, backups, monitoring, patch management, a 99.95% uptime target and ISO 27001/9001 processes.

 

What was delivered

  • Migration: API-first extraction via the Jadu API into Drupal's Migrate API, run in manageable, testable batches. Because Migrate API tracks what it has already processed, content could be migrated daily while editors kept working on the live site so nothing was interrupted. Redirects preserved rankings and automated checks on the content confirmed nothing was lost.
  • Theming, not redesigning: a custom theme built to the council's brand guidelines, mapping existing colours, fonts, layouts and icons onto the LGD structure component by component.
  • Resident-facing widgets: an accessible bin collection tool (postcode/address lookup, next collection dates for refuse, recycling, garden and food waste, desktop and mobile, with the option to add dates to a calendar) and a sensitive, searchable, filterable Coroner's inquests listing fed live from the WPC Coroners system. Both were built as reusable, accessible CMS components.
  • Retained tooling: Cludo search, ReciteMe, Google Analytics, custom RSS feeds, Site Improve, Editoria11y, character-count tools, and a MyAccount/Sign In header component as the first step towards a full single sign-on portal.
  • Unified digital estate: a reverse-CMS global wrapper so Modern.Gov automatically follows any change to the main site's header, footer, navigation and styling, with no manual work; the same approach extended to other third-party solutions.
  • Security and hosting: 2FA integrated with Microsoft Active Directory, managed AWS with 24/7 Web Application Firewall monitoring (including AI-agent throttling and attack mitigation), fully managed environments, a monthly support block and a fixed-fee Drupal Updates service.


Delivery approach
Four phases over roughly 10 weeks (March–June 2026):

1. Initiation: Project plan, content audit, environments, initial LGD build
2. Migration & core build: Jadu content migration, custom theme, Cludo, ReciteMe, Analytics
3. Styling & accessibility: WCAG 2.2 AA audit, production build, Whitespace + Coroner integrations
4. Go live: Final testing, bug fixes, UAT sign-off, launch

A one-week stability period followed go live before handover to steady-state support.


Outcomes
A modern, secure, accessible LocalGov Drupal website with all content migrated, the familiar look and feel preserved, and resident-facing services working smoothly ; on an open-source platform shared across UK councils, with reliable long-term support.
 

Why Drupal was chosen

The council wanted a more modern, flexible and cost-effective foundation than its legacy Jadu platform. LocalGov Drupal offered an open-source CMS built by and for councils, meaning the cost of future development and digital improvement is shared across UK local authorities; meaning better value for taxpayers. Because Central Bedfordshire's information architecture mapped cleanly onto standard LocalGov Drupal, the platform could be adopted largely as-is, with the council's design applied as custom theming using the LocalGov Drupal themes as a basis.

Code Enigma's existing LGD track record (North Devon, East Suffolk, Colchester, North Yorkshire, Royal Borough of Greenwich) and deep knowledge of the content model also made a Jadu migration far less risky.

Central Bedfordshire Council Homepage

Technical Specifications

Drupal version:

Why these modules/theme/distribution were chosen

LocalGov Drupal was chosen because it is built by and for councils, giving the council a shared, cost-effective foundation with a content model that matched its own architecture closely enough for design to be a theming exercise rather than a rebuild. 

Migrate API was central to the migration strategy: its tracking of processed items allowed incremental, testable, daily migrations with no downtime for editors. 

The LGD Consultations, Elections, Job Vacancies and Finders features extend the core site with standard local government functionality without bespoke development. 

Site Improve, Editoria11y and character-count tools were selected to help editors keep content accessible day to day, aligned with WCAG 2.2 AA obligations. 

The 2FA and OpenID Connect modules met the council's mandatory security requirement to tie admin and editorial authentication to Microsoft Active Directory. 

Cludo and ReciteMe were retained because residents and staff already relied on them. 

The Whitespace and Coroner integrations were built as reusable, accessible components so they perform well without damaging page performance.