Charity tells High Court that letting trans women into Hampstead Heath's Kenwood Ladies' Pond 'indirectly discriminates against women'

Sex Matters has brought a judicial review at the High Court challenging the City of London Corporation's policy of granting access to Hampstead Heath's single-sex ponds on the basis of gender identity rather than biological sex. Barrister Tom Cross KC argued women face a "particular group disadvantage" because their privacy, dignity and sense of safety are more likely to be compromised when biological males are present in spaces where women undress and shower. The case follows the Supreme Court's 2025 ruling that "woman" under the Equality Act means biological woman — a ruling Sex Matters says renders the corporation's policy unlawful.

The corporation's barrister David Stilitz KC argued that changing the policy would strip trans people of rights tied to their 'lived gender'.

Cross KC stressed Sex Matters was NOT claiming every trans woman posed a threat — only that women's safety and dignity were structurally undermined.

The corporation noted that since the policy began in 2017, not a single substantiated incident of inappropriate behaviour involving a trans person had been recorded.