A legal challenge brought by a charity over transgender people’s access to single-sex facilities at swimming ponds in Hampstead Heath has failed at the high court.
Sex Matters, a UK-wide gender-critical campaign group, sought to take legal action against the City of London, which manages the bathing ponds in north London, arguing that allowing trans people to use the facilities for the gender with which they identified amounted to sex discrimination.
It followed a supreme court ruling last year which determined the terms “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act refer only to a biological woman and to biological sex, and do not include transgender women who hold gender recognition certificates.
In a ruling throwing out the legal action on Thursday, Mrs Justice Lieven said the “appropriate forum” for such a claim was through an individual at the county court, rather than the high court.
She said: “In my view the more appropriate person to bring this claim is an individual who says that they have been discriminated against by decisions about access to the ponds.”
Tom Cross KC, acting for Sex Matters, had argued the rules treat an individual woman “less favourably” than an individual man, as they are at “greater risk of suffering the detriment of her privacy, dignity or safety being compromised”.
There is a mixed-gender pond at Hampstead Heath, but the Kenwood Ladies’ and Highgate Men’s ponds are gender-segregated, with trans people currently able to swim in whichever they feel most appropriate, or use the heath’s mixed-gender pond instead.
The Good Law Project, which opposes the supreme court’s judgment, said the ruling was a “huge win for trans rights” and it was “relieved that the ponds can remain a place where trans people have always belonged”.
Maya Forstater, the CEO of Sex Matters, said “the fight for women’s safety, privacy and dignity in single-sex spaces will continue”. She added that the claim was “ruled out on procedural grounds” and would not give providers the “green light” to allow trans people into single-sex facilities.
The ruling came on the same day as the City of London published the results of its consultation on the issue, in which 86% of respondents said they favoured keeping the current trans-inclusive arrangements.
It said more than 38,000 people took part in the two-month consultation, in which most people said they supported retaining the existing access arrangements.
The same percentage opposed introducing single-sex access, 90% rejected requiring trans swimmers to use separate changing rooms or have separate swimming sessions, and 66% opposed making all ponds mixed sex.
The City of London said the consultation was open to all and aimed at soliciting a wide range of views, but 84% of respondents had swum at the bathing ponds and 74% lived in London.
The consultation also included a series of focus groups with pond users, in which retaining current trans-inclusive arrangements also received the broadest support.
Chris Hayward, the City of London Corporation policy chair, said: “The volume and tone of responses we received demonstrate very clearly just how much the ponds are valued as calm, safe, welcoming community spaces for all to enjoy.
“While we’ve been clear that the consultation was not a referendum, carefully reviewing the findings from it will form an important part of our wider decision-making process, which we will communicate clearly to the public in the months ahead.
“It’s important that we take the time to ensure future access arrangements are fair, lawful, evidence-based and, crucially, respectful to those who use the swimming ponds.”
The findings of the consultation will be considered “alongside legal duties, equality impact assessments, safeguarding responsibilities and operational considerations”, and current admission rules will remain in place until a final decision is made.
