New Pet Policy for Yew Tree Court

Residents and staff have worked together to develop a new pet policy for Yew Tree Court.

Yew Tree Court is one of our over 55’s schemes in Todmorden, and one of the few that has a communal lounge for all residents to use.

It’s also in a unique position, because when Connect took over the building from Places for People, we inherited a pet policy that was different from our usual one. Given the changes during that period, it was important to us that we spoke to residents to create a new policy that reflected both the historic approach, and the new way of working.

The new pet policy for the block was written with residents in 2021, with a plan to renew it in 2024 once we knew how well the policy was working and whether there needed to be any changes.

To find this out, we spoke to the residents. They were given anonymous surveys and asked to share their views on pets in the block, especially when it came to the communal lounge and other shared areas.

We had some really useful feedback and as a result changes have been made to the policy, making communal areas more accessible for all, including those who chose not to have pets.

Joanne Davies, Scheme Manager, said “I’ve noticed a bigger take up of use on the communal lounge by residents since the ‘no dogs permitted’ rule has been in place”.

We are thrilled that the changes to the policy have made the communal area more welcoming for all residents. It shows how important it is to hear all voices when working on a project like this.

If you think that you have something to say and want to help us change things for the better, please get in touch via gettinginvolved@connecthousing.org.uk