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Transgender swimmers have been granted full access to Hampstead Heath’s ladies’ pond under new gender identity rules from the City of London Corporation.

People who identify as female after being assigned male at birth now have the right to bathe unimpeded in the swimming pond used by the likes of Kate Moss and Helena Bonham-Carter.

Transgender women are already allowed to use the ladies’ pond but the change means their right of access is now enshrined in formal rules.

The new “robust and consistent” policy from the Corporation, which manages the Heath, follows a major public consultation.

Edward Lord, who heads the Corporation committee that approved the change, said it “will ensure our public services do not discriminate against trans people”.

The Corporation said an “overwhelming majority” of the 21,000 valid responses to its consultation favoured ensuring trans people did not suffer discrimination.

Almost two-thirds said people should not have to provide “proof” of their gender identity before being allowed entry to single-gender services such as the swimming ponds.

However, the decision is likely to restart the row over whether transgender women should be allowed access to the ladies’ pond, a single-sex haven since 1926. Last year, female activists demonstrated against the right of trans women to use it by gatecrashing the men’s pond.

But the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond Association today welcomed the move and said it was in talks with the Corporation about providing “additional privacy for changing and showering” for pond users who had concerns.

The policy had a mixed reaction among swimmers at the pond yesterday.

Roosje Watson, 32, said: “I think if someone identifies as a woman they should be allowed to swim here. As long as they help to keep the space as special as it is now, I think that’s the most important thing.”

Tessa Havers-Strong, of charity Camden LGBT Forum, said: “It’s a good thing … People thought there would be men who would pretend to be trans and would go into the female space and do great harm. But I don’t think this is the case, the ponds will still be the same.” But Penny Chislett, 76, who uses the pond several times a week, said: “I do think unless you’ve had the operation you should be swimming in the men’s pool. This … should be for women only.”

Rosa Freedman, a professor of law at Reading University, suggested transgender swimmers should use the nearby mixed pond instead.

“I am heartbroken that self-identification will be allowed,” she said. “There’s a mixed pond next to it, why can’t they use that? It’s a place where women feel safe, and now it won’t be the same. This now means there is a possibility, and it is a very small number of men, that could use this in a predatory way.”