Lambeth Council has launched a redesigned website built on the LocalGov Drupal open source codebase developed as one of the Local Digital Fund projects.
It said the beta.lambeth.gov.uk site has been designed to make it easier to use, fully responsive on mobile devices and accessible to more people.
The launch comes soon after a similar move by Croydon Council, one of the leaders in developing the LocalGov Drupal platform.
Lambeth said that more than 2,500 pages have been reviewed for accessibility, accuracy and clarity, with a panel of 500 residents consulted on the redesign and more than 150 taking part in interviews, surveys and testing.
It has also emphasised that it is posting details of live consultations and surveys on the home page to boost resident input into its decision-making, and said the new design involves shorter sentences, easy-to-read bullet points, and the most popular services placed in a central position on the screen.
New areas on the site include a jobs and skills area to promote apprenticeships and other opportunities, and an Our Community section featuring events, consultations and local projects.
The council added that some less used parts of the website retain the old design for now but should be updated by the end of March.
Shop front
Councillor Andy Wilson, cabinet member for finance and performance, said: “The website is incredibly important for us, serving as a shop front for a huge range of council services, information and news about our borough. We have invested time and energy in getting this right and I want to thank the Lambeth residents, our partners and stakeholders who have contributed.
“With the ongoing pandemic and rising rates of Covid-19 infection in Lambeth, London and across the country enabling all our residents to access our website in the way that suits them best has never been more important. So I thank all those who have contributed and look forward to the further feedback and learning we will gain in the coming months now the new site is live.”
The launch forms part of a £3 million investment in digital services by the London borough as part of its customer experience and digital transformation programme. Other elements of this include an expansion of the in-house digital services team, which is working with other teams on improving services.
