On 29 March 2021 the Hampstead Heath bathing ponds and Parliament Hill Lido are due to re-open under Covid-secure arrangements.
Whilst we have no issue with keeping staff and swimmers safe through safe-distancing measures and limited numbers, there is a significant disparity. We cannot see how this can be explained through logic and the City of London Corporation has failed to provide a rationale when asked.
This concerns “Capped Free Flow” entry. At the ponds and at the Lido, the earliest session each day will not require pre-booking. Later sessions, which are also time limited, will require online pre-booking (phone line arrangements have yet to be confirmed). At the bathing ponds, capped free flow will only be available until 10 am from 29 March to 20 September 2021. However, at the Lido this will be available until 1pm up to 30 April 2021 – a month later – before reverting to 10am from 1 May 2021. Overall there will be a disparity of 297 hours of capped free flow access between the bathing ponds and the Lido (3 hours x 3 ponds x 33 days).
Further details of these arrangements can be found here. Details of the new charges can be seen at pages 7-8 here, and will apply from re-opening on 29 March 2021.
If you are concerned about the differences in access arrangements for the Lido and bathing ponds, you can contact the City of London Corporation using the email addresses below. You may wish to ask for parity between the bathing ponds and the Lido for capped free flow hours, and for this to be put in place in time for re-opening on 29 March 2021. If the proposed differences in access arrangements will have a specific impact on you, please include this too:
Anne.Fairweather@cityoflondon.gov.uk
Bob.Warnock@cityoflondon.gov.uk
HH-Swimming@cityoflondon.gov.uk
Please copy your email to klpamailbox@gmail.com