Swimmers are challenging the access rules at Hampstead Heath’s bathing ponds at the High Court, in a two-day hearing starting tomorrow.
The charity Sex Matters has brought a judicial review against Heath managers the City of London Corporation, challenging the gender identity policy at the Men’s and Ladies’ ponds.
Kenwood Ladies’ Pond opened 100 years ago as a space for female swimmers, and the inclusion of trans women in recent years has been a source of contention.
The Corporation formally adopted a gender identity policy in 2019 which allowed trans-identifying men to access the Ladies’ Pond and trans-identifying women to access the Men’s Pond.
Despite a Supreme Court ruling in 2025 that the concept of “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 referred to biological sex, the Corporation voted to continue the policy in May this year.
Sex Matters, which aims to restore clarity about biological sex in law to protect sex-based rights, claims the rules are unlawful and harmful and in breach of the Supreme Court ruling. It is asking the court to declare the decisions unlawful and quash them.
In a statement, the charity said: “We are challenging the decision by the City of London Corporation that men who identify as women may use the Ladies’ Pond, including its communal changing room and showers, and that women who identify as men may use the Men’s Pond. We say that operating the facility in this way is unlawful sex discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.”
Swimmers will attend the start of the hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice tomorrow morning, along with Sex Matters chief executive Maya Forstater.
In their submission to the court, they say Hampstead Heath’s bathing ponds are the only single-sex freshwater swimming amenities in the country, with the Ladies’ Pond supervised by female staff and screened by trees and hedges to give swimmers privacy. They add that women have reported covering up, no longer attending the Ladies’ Pond, or feeling uncomfortable due to encounters in the changing rooms or pond areas, and that women and men, and girls and boys, have many reasons for wanting a single-sex service, including bodily privacy or needs arising because of trauma or religious belief.
The Corporation has said it runs the ponds as welcoming, trans-inclusive spaces with a long history of diversity, and cited a survey this year which revealed strong support for the existing rules, with around 86 per cent of more than 38,000 respondents backing trans-inclusive ponds.
It has also pledged to build more individual cubicles, enhanced shower facilities and upgraded toilets at all three bathing ponds — the Men’s, Mixed and Ladies’.
A spokesperson for the Corporation said: “The Supreme Court clarified the legal definition of ‘sex’, but it did not require all services to become single-sex, nor did it prevent trans-inclusive arrangements. Our focus is, and always has been, on providing a safe, respectful, and well-managed environment for everyone who uses the ponds. We are confident that our approach is lawful, proportionate, and appropriate.”
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