Overview

• The consultation outlines six approaches, ranging from keeping self-identification to operating ponds strictly by biological sex, plus hybrid scheduling, facilities-only restrictions, and a not-favoured option to remove sex divisions.
• One proposal would restrict trans swimmers to the mixed pond and bar access to single-sex ponds aligned with their gender identity.
• Current practice allows trans people to choose the ladies’ or men’s pond they consider appropriate or to use the mixed-gender pond.
• The process runs until 12pm on 25 November, with feedback to be considered alongside equality impact assessments, safeguarding requirements and legal obligations.
• Sex Matters argues for sex-based rules to protect women’s privacy and dignity, while trans swimmers cite decades of uneventful use and warn appearance-based checks could wrongly direct trans men into women’s spaces.