Hampstead Heath ponds to remain trans-inclusive after public back existing rules

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’s mixed-gender pond instead. The City of London Corporation (CLC), which manages the ponds, reviewed its policy in response to the supreme court’s ruling in April 2025 that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex. 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’ existing trans-inclusive arrangements, the corporation said. The policy agreement means that transgender women will continue to have access to the site’s Kenwood Ladies’ pond and the Highgate Men’s pond will be open to trans men, the CLC confirmed. The Hampstead mixed pond is “open to everyone”, it said. The campaign group Sex Matters won a court of appeal bid in March to continue a legal challenge over the bathing ponds’ 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. 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’ pond. …