Month: August 2021

The Hampstead Heath Consultative Committee meets again after nearly 5 months, at 5.30 pm on Monday 6 September 2021. This meeting will have a virtual public gallery which can be viewed here. The full agenda pack, which is significantly shorter than usual, can be downloaded here. Items of note include the arrangements for the winter swimming season (page 30) and the continued intention to consider proposals for contactless payment to access Heath toilets (page 50). Draft guidance on the use of drones on the Heath is contained at pages 33-35.

The next meeting of the Hampstead Heath, Highgate Woods and Queen’s Park Management Committee is at 4pm on Wednesday 29 September 2021. Details of the agenda pack are not yet available but should be uploaded here later in September.

The KLPA is continuing to fundraise to support legal action against the City of London Corporation, challenging the discriminatory charging regime at the bathing ponds.  The application for Judicial Review has permission to proceed. Details of our crowdfunding page are here. For quick access we have created a QR Code which you can use to encourage friends, colleagues and relatives to donate:

Thank you for your continued support.

We have received the sad news that Agi Katz, a long-term Ladies’ Pond swimmer and KLPA member, died on 12 August 2021. Agi will be remembered fondly by many of our community, and had been a regular year-round pond swimmer since the 1990s. She swam a distinctive side-stroke and was a kind, welcoming presence at the Ladies’ Pond.

Agi, who survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary from 1944, arrived in England as a refugee following the 1956 Hungarian Uprising. She lived near to the Heath on the Holly Lodge Estate, and for many years ran the Boundary Gallery. In 2019 Agi was diagnosed with cancer but did not let this put her off an active life. The Covid-secure measures at the Ladies’ Pond from July 2020 actually made it possible for her to continue to swim safely and her daughter Julia has praised the support of the Lifeguards in making this happen.

In 2020 the Highgate Literary & Scientific Institution and photographer Ruth Corney produced “Remarkable Highgate Women” which included Agi’s story here.

On Wednesday 18 August 2021, Agi’s daughters Julia and Alex would like to invite her friends to gather at the Ladies’ Pond and join a swim at 9.15 am, followed by breakfast, and shared memories of Agi.

We have been informed that the legal case against the City of London Corporation, challenging the new charging regime at the bathing ponds, has been granted permission to proceed.  Individual claimant Christina Efthimiou, supported by the KLPA, has claimed that these charges amount to indirect disability discrimination and a failure to make reasonable adjustments, in breach of the Equality Act 2010.

This granting of permission means that the High Court has agreed that there is an arguable case. Until now the City of London Corporation has been dismissive of the concerns raised by the Heath swimmers’ associations about exclusion at the bathing ponds, so this decision is encouraging. We thank the legal team at Leigh Day for their diligent work on this case.

The KLPA and the other swimmers’ associations sought from early 2020 to work with the City of London Corporation to increase income at the bathing ponds without excluding those who cannot afford to pay. This approach was rejected in March 2020, but the swimmers’ associations have continued to offer to work with the City to address the shortcomings of their new arrangements. The City could still work with us constructively.

In the meantime we do still need to fund raise to support the cost of this challenge and potential adverse costs – PLEASE DONATE HERE

Today’s press coverage of this legal challenge can be seen here (Guardian 10 August 2021).

Thank you to everyone who has supported the fund raising so far, please encourage your friends and family to donate if possible.