Consultation on future access to the Hampstead Heath Bathing Ponds - Closes 25 November 2025

[IwantToRetire]

The City of London Corporation has launched a public consultation to help inform future access arrangements at Hampstead Heath’s Bathing Ponds.

The consultation invites feedback from pond users, the local community, and stakeholders on how the Kenwood Ladies’, and Highgate Men’s ponds should operate in the future.

The consultation is open until 12:00 on Tuesday 25 November 2025.

https://hampstead-heath-bathing-ponds.commonplace.is/

Opened today and I found out via an Irish newspaper!

I know there is an existing thread about legal challenge but thought it good to have the news of the consultation being open as a thread title.

Unfortunately if that occasional man wanders in to express his inner self and his personal reality, there will be women in that women's single sex pool who have to get out and leave to let him do his thing. It's not so bad for the women who can tolerate a mixed sex space, but it's bloody awful for the women who can't and has to immediately get out of the pool and leave when a man decides to exercise his special choosy choices over all three pools and sod everyone else. And she may or may not be having a panic attack and be in an acute state of distress and afraid to risk coming back. This is not ok. Inclusion means a women's space that works for all women.

And that occasional man might be ok, or he might be a user of Malaga Airport and make you uncomfortable or get his equipment out, or he might be Barbie Kardashian in which case God help every woman there. Who knows? The women don't get to choose, he does. He'll pick your experience for you.

It's not ok to treat women in this way. And this spiteful, misogynist tripe of 'if you're going to be snotty about being submissive to some men then you can't have anything at all' needs stamping on hard. Women are not bloody second class citizens, they are not just walking men-enablers, they are not on the planet to give space and stroke men's egos for the benefit of everyone else having a quiet life. These men are going to have to get their heads around the idea that they can identify how they like but they are not women; that women have rights as well as them and equal to theirs; and that they cannot have everything all the time.

Best tell that to City of London Corporation. I just hope they listen this time.

Obviously, but CofL is suggesting otherwise.

I know which is why I've completed the questionnaire pointing it out

What I dont understand is, as th Corporation said in ther press release that the Supreme Court ruling meant that their Gender Identity policy was no longer valid, why they think they can still suggest they could have one.

There are 3 ponds, one for men, one for women and a mixed sex one.

Unless they are going to rename the ponds and call then what? masculine pond, feminine pond, the ruling is clear.

So there is a pond for everyone.

But, a bit like toilets and changing rooms etc., trans people do not get the right to have their identity affirmed by insisting they use the sex defined facilty of their belief.

What am I missing.

Or is this another example of something I posted on another thread. That the way thinks are going, so many people / organisations are just going to ignore the Supreme Court ruling, that it will be impossible to implement.

Or that an ammendment to the EA that will say something along the lines of where popular / user support says that being trans inclusive isn't a problem, you dont have to obey the law.

Just as prior to the court ruling something that was female could include "legal" women but where proporationate "legal" women could be excluded.

This this would be SSE in reverse.

That's a worst-case scenario really, OP. But certainly not beyond the bounds of possibility to me. The extent to genderism is so embedded in the Civil Service, the 'lanyard class', whatever you want to say, is a massive factor. The people who have to formulate and make the rules, in every working environment imagineable.

Then they could just use the mixed pond when they're not at work?

Done. Steam coming out of my ears. Have been a very regular ladies pond user for over 30 years. What a sneaky set of questions.

Done, bloody ridiculous that they won’t accept as there is a mixed pond that there is no reason to have single sex ones!

Well if that happens enjoy the former men's pond. It is twice the size of the Ladies pond.

I’ve just filled in the consultation. I mentioned the law several times and that women of any ID have not been allowed in the men’s pond. Our local paper, the campaigning and quite investigative lefty Camden New Journal, only has this tiny little item. Shocking!

I suggested they gave more thought to how the spaces could be made more trans inclusive while remaining single sex. So how they can ensure transwomen feel safe and welcome in the men's pool

Edited comment to make it less identifiable.

That is an excellent suggestion and one they should have considered and added as a top option, really, as it's the obvious thing to do.

May be worth archiving this thread as it is proof of women having filled out the consultation clear in their wish and need for single sex spaces. Just in case it emerges that the results of the consultation were (again) that all women were delighted to swim with men, and no one minded at all.

Good idea!

How do you archive a whole thread?

Personally I have no idea, but I am sure there are plenty here clever enough to do so.

It seems that some forums do offer archiving but cant find this option on MN.

So if no archive option AI says you have to copy and paste into a word document or something.

There is an option in settings on MN to have all posts on a thread as one long continuous page.

Or you have to buy specialist software.

To archive a forum thread, look for an "Archive" option or a "Move to Archive" dropdown within the forum's user interface, often found at the top or within the thread's menu, which then moves the discussion to a designated archive forum or section. If your forum platform doesn't offer a built-in feature, you may need to manually save the thread by copying its content into a text document or using a web archiving tool like Singlefile or the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine to create a local copy or web snapshot of the page.

Might look into wayback machine later today!

Page 1 archived here: https://archive.is/YJ4te

There are only 18 posts on page 2, so maybe we should wait till it fills up a bit more.

If you go to archive dot is and post the URL into the red box at the top, then confirm, it will produce this sort of thing.

Archived up to this point https://archive.is/uUkx0

ie from page 1 to this point.

I also voted. I want the ladies pond for ladies who are female.
i also don’t want the ‘Tuesday from 6 to 8 open to all who feel ladies’ because who is going to police that.

Completed because apparently I have moved to Ealing.

Ealing is very nice (I live here), and there's a Magic (= London Overground) train that whisks you straight to Hampstead Heath!

Legal update: anonymity and urgency granted on our Hampstead ponds case

We’ve had an important step in our legal challenge over the Hampstead Heath swimming ponds.

The High Court issued an order granting anonymity to one of our witnesses who will be referred to as TBS. This means that her name and personal details will be protected throughout the proceedings. The court agreed there were compelling reasons for this in her specific case.

The next stage must be decided promptly

While the court decided not to fast-track the case, it recognised that it raises important questions following the For Women Scotland judgment. The judge ordered that the next stage — deciding whether the case can go to a full hearing — must happen promptly, and more quickly than usual, with the answer expected by 21st October 2025, or as soon as possible after that.

This ensures that the case keeps moving and doesn’t get bogged down in delays.

https://sex-matters.org/posts/updates/legal-update-on-our-hampstead-ponds-case/