\n<\/p>\n
The bathing ponds at Hampstead Heath in north-west London will remain trans-inclusive after a public consultation overwhelmingly favoured its existing rules.<\/p>\n
There are gender-segregated ponds for men and women, with trans people able to swim in whichever they feel most appropriate, or use the heath\u2019s mixed-gender pond instead.<\/p>\n
The City of London Corporation (CLC), which manages the ponds, reviewed its policy in response to the supreme court\u2019s ruling in April 2025 that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, a committee made the decision after a public consultation, launched in October, in which 86% of 38,000 respondents favoured retaining the ponds\u2019 existing trans-inclusive arrangements, the corporation said.<\/p>\n
The policy agreement means that transgender women will continue to have access to the site\u2019s Kenwood Ladies\u2019 pond, and the Highgate Men\u2019s pond will be open to trans men, the CLC confirmed. The Hampstead mixed pond is \u201copen to everyone\u201d, it said.<\/p>\n
The campaign group Sex Matters won a court of appeal application in March to continue a legal challenge over the bathing ponds\u2019 access policy. Pressure has mounted from similar advocacy groups after the supreme court ruled earlier this year that trans women were not legally defined as women.<\/p>\n
Fiona McAnena, the director of Sex Matters, said the CLC had in effect voted to defy the law and discriminate against and harass women using the ladies\u2019 pond.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany City of London councillors seem to think UK equality law doesn\u2019t apply to the Hampstead ponds,\u201d says McAnena. \u201cThe clue is in the name: female users don\u2019t expect to encounter male people in bikinis or sometimes even naked in the showers at the Ladies\u2019 pond, but that is what the City of London Corporation has endorsed.\u201d<\/p>\n
McAnena added that \u201cthe whole policy is an unlawful mess and it\u2019s a disgrace that London councillors think that they can ride roughshod over the law.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trans people have called the campaigners \u201ccruel and judgmental\u201d and said they had been using the space for decades with no issues.<\/p>\n
The CLC said improvements have also been agreed to add more private cubicles as part of upgrades to toilet and shower facilities at the ponds.<\/p>\n
The decision means the women\u2019s and men\u2019s ponds would not be considered single-sex spaces under the Equality Act.<\/p>\n
Guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), published by the government last month, confirmed single-sex services must be on the basis of biological sex.<\/p>\n
The City of London Corporation policy chair, Chris Hayward, said the consultation results had \u201cshown people want these ponds to remain safe, respectful and inclusive\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIt\u2019s clear how much these bathing ponds mean to the communities who swim here. Many people told us how they value them as calm, safe and welcoming spaces with a strong sense of inclusion and belonging.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough our consultation was never a referendum, the message from regular swimmers and the wider community was clear \u2013 people want these ponds to remain safe, respectful and inclusive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhilst the supreme court judgment confirmed the legal definition of \u2018sex\u2019, it did not decide that all trans-inclusive services must become single-sex services.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have continued to listen and take detailed legal advice throughout this process. The approach agreed today protects the character and unique spirit of the ponds while ensuring they remain welcoming to all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The bathing ponds at Hampstead Heath in north-west London will remain trans-inclusive after a public consultation overwhelmingly favoured its existing rules. There are gender-segregated ponds for men and women, with trans people able to swim in whichever they feel most appropriate, or use the heath\u2019s mixed-gender pond instead. The City of London Corporation (CLC), which<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50064,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[9657,15620,15621,13910,177,3665,666,570,24687],"class_list":{"0":"post-50063","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-existing","9":"tag-hampstead","10":"tag-heath","11":"tag-ponds","12":"tag-public","13":"tag-remain","14":"tag-rules","15":"tag-transgender","16":"tag-transinclusive"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/50064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}