Manchester City Council has launched a new app to help people make safe journeys across the city.
It becomes the latest region to employ the WalkSafe app, developed by Chester-based Chaperhome Ltd.
The app enables people to pick known safe routes through the city, as well as allowing them to share their location with family or friends and sending an automatic alert out if a person fails to reach their intended destination.
It went live in Manchester this week and has been designed to go hand-in-hand with other measures which it hopes will make the nighttime economy safe for everyone.
“The response that we saw to our Night-time Safety Charter was incredibly gratifying, seeing businesses across the sector rally behind us to make Manchester a safer city,” said Councillor Joanna Midgley, Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council.
“Since its launch we have trained hundreds of staff and provided resources to ensure that venues know how to react and respond when they encounter someone who may be at risk.
“The arrival of WalkSafe to Manchester is a huge development and one which I believe with strengthen the work we are doing around safety. In an ideal world anyone should be able to go where they want, when they want but until then, it is important we put measures in place to protect and empower our residents.
“In the coming months we will be working with partners across the city, as well as within our burgeoning nighttime and events sector, and our universities to make sure that anyone has the tools to keep themselves safe.”
WalkSafe was founded by Emma Kay, the daughter of a police officer. Since its launch, it has received £200k funding via Seedr and £300k from Fearless Adventures. It’s also been deployed nationwide, including Wakefield, Nottinghamshire and parts of London.
“Like us, Manchester City Council takes the safety of everyone in the city seriously and to partner with them on such an important initiative is an absolute privilege,” she explained.
“WalkSafe is now live in Manchester and is free to download. It has unique features that means everyone can feel and be safer. From tracking your friends’ journeys to seeing the safe spaces on the map, it ensures everyone gets home from a night out. The app is ideal for students, commuters, runners and just about everyone. I always say it’s the app that shouldn’t have to exist but sadly it is an essential ally to let us all enjoy our lives and go where we want, when we want.”
