Hampstead Heath Ladies' Pond faces legal action

[IwantToRetire]

Hampstead Heath Ladies’ Pond is facing legal action for allegedly failing to ban transgender women despite the landmark Supreme Court gender ruling.

The famed women-only bathing spot has maintained its trans-inclusive policy pending a ‘review’ in spite of the UK’s highest court ruling in April that trans women are not legally female.

Women’s rights campaigners sent a legal letter to the City of London Corporation, which manages the ponds, last week warning they intend to bring a legal challenge unless the policy is revoked with 'immediate effect’.

The legal letter, seen by the Mail, says that the current policy ‘violates the dignity of women using the Ladies’ Pond’ and that the Corporation is ‘operating it unlawfully by allowing trans identifying males to access it’.

From https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14851251/Hampstead-Heath-Ladies-Pond-legal-action-ban-trans-women-Supreme-Court.html

Different version of same story https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/06/26/hampstead-ladies-pond-swimmers-accuse-trans-women-spying/ and at https://archive.is/fZ31q

If I remember correctly it was Edward Lord https://democracy.cityoflondon.gov.uk/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=292 that had a lot to do with this originally.

If they say they are awaiting clarification of the rules, surely they should be stopping trans women from using the women's pool until guidance shows them otherwise? Not the other way around.

Funny that the page is not opening, happened when I clicked on "member interests" 😊

Thanks anyway. I'm guessing he has form.

Bloody good letter, all 21pp of it.

It makes my blood boil to read about naked men in women's changing rooms. It's about the biggest 'fuck you' to women & girls that I can imagine.

A passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion, they have previously served as a board member of Albert Kennedy Trust, Anne Frank Trust, LGBT Foundation, Pride Trust, and the Refugee Council as well as being the Local Government Association’s national lead on equality and social inclusion from 2004 to 2013.
Pronouns: They/Them/Theirs

His LinkedIn account has the expected flags on it, so I guess we know where he's coming from.

Isnt it odd that all this caution from everyone - government, NHS, you name it - always involves enabling men to go on harming women's rights as long as is possible?

It's always women who are the lowest priority and care. Always. On a binary, sexed basis. No one believes that these men are anything but men.

Please could someone explain the gardening references?

Grrr I hate the grammatical shite of this.
“theirs” isn’t a pronoun.

Isn't there a problem in showing that swimming in a mixed sex environment causes a violation of dignity, given that most swimming faciities are mixed? Do the people who run these ponds have any duty to provide a single sex facility?

I agree. Watching with interest.

Here's an example of gardening. I think there have been more recent round ups. https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5219547-nearly-end-november-gardening

ie a FWR work around a MN "rule".

Fundraising and petitions happen in a separate area. Posts mentioning fundraisers or petitions get deleted.

Gardening references are an offer to help.

Well this will be an interesting test of whether the truth was spoken by the SC judges when they said that nothing had changed for trans people, though in all honesty, I'm far more interested on how the egregious attacks on privacy rights will be ruled by the ECtHR.

Pathetic including trans slurs tho, very 'playground', but seething contempt is very much the norm.

A bloke who takes off his kit in the showers at the Ladies' Pond is not exactly screaming "give me privacy", is he?

No there should be no problem

There is a men’s pond, a women’s pond and a mixed pond. Men has three ponds they are being allowed to use and the women only have two.

Why if there is already segregated ponds can women not be allowed to have their own pond?

Yes, and some women have none. Any woman needing a single sex space for swimming and related activities (e.g. changing) is currently excluded. Because none of the ponds currently are women only.

Nothing has changed in law. The law has been confirmed to be what a lot of women always thought it said but what you no doubt would deny it meant.

What will change is that women can now challenge organisations who claim to be offering single sex provisions when they are in reality offering a discriminatory mixed sex facility. The discrimination being only allowing a self selecting group of members of the opposite sex to join.

Excellent news!

Men have the mens pool, and the mixed sex pool.
They never had the right to the women's pool.
I hope Sex Matters sues their arses off.

The only seething contempt is from boundary pushing men and their supporters towards women for having their own spaces. You and them can’t stand it. Trans people can still swim, pee and get changed, they just have to accept they don’t meet the entrance criteria in certain circumstances to get into the spaces they want. Get over it.

Do I have contempt, seething contempt, for men who demand and insist that they control and use all three pools and by doing so deprive all women of a single sex space, and some women of access to any pool at all?

Yes. Yes I do. It's appalling behaviour.

This is why women's rights in law have to be enforced and gatekept. Men have zero respect for them. 'Contempt' for women about nails it.

Do explain sometime why it's important that men must have some legal 'right' to have everything, when this means depriving women of anything at all?

Other than that you are demonstrating a belief that men have importance and value, and women are merely walking service resources and props.

How is this kind? Inclusive? Progressive? Tolerant?

Why continually snark on a women's rights forum for women defending their actual rights in law? I wonder.

“Egregious attacks on privacy rights” 🤣🤣🤣🤣

oh dear…..😂😂😂…..right to privacy is limited, no one has absolute rights to privacy especially when that right has an impact on other people’s rights.

What's changing is that you can no longer assume privileges to which you were never entitled, and which had the effect of denying others their lawful rights. HTH.

ECtHR aren't going to rule on shit, article 8 is a qualified right. HTH.