Hampstead Heath: Trans women allowed to continue using ladies' pond

Swimmers will be able to use ponds "aligning with their gender identity"

Transgender women will be allowed to continue using the Hampstead Ladies' Pond after a vote.

Kenwood Ladies' Pond Association (KLPA) rejected a motion proposing that "only those born female in sex can use the pond".

The City of London Corporation, which runs the facility, adopted a new gender identity policy to be "fully compliant with the Equality Act 2010" in 2019.

This allowed transgender women to use the pond.

The KPLA said a small group was behind some "disruptive behaviour" at the meeting.

'Resounding defeat'

Over 200 KLPA members attended in "what promised to be a lively meeting", the association said in a report of the meeting.

The report read: "A resolution to change the definition of 'woman' in our constitution, in a way which would have excluded transgender women, was resoundingly defeated.

"We realise this is a subject on which not all will agree, but we urge all members to conduct this debate with civility and respect.

"Most women in the meeting did so and were a credit to the KLPA. "

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