Great British Farce if parkrun does not return but clubs and casinos do | Sean Ingle

Bureaucracy may prevent one of the nation’s greatest public health initiatives from resuming after the end of lockdown

Slowly, if a little unsteadily, the endgame out of lockdown approaches. From Monday England’s pubs and casinos can swing open their doors. Next month, clubs can join them. All of which makes the uncertain fate of parkrun, one of Britain’s greatest ever public health initiatives, even more extraordinary. It had planned to resume on 5 June. Instead it has become mired in a bureaucratic nightmare worthy of Kafka and faces indefinite postponement.

You might ask why, given that parkrun has spent six months working with Sport England, Public Health England and the DCMS on a framework to resume again. But those who must give their approval – local authorities and landowners – don’t appear to be listening. So far less than a third of the 589 events have approval, far short of the magic figure of 80 or 90% needed.

Related: The remarkable story of Harry Edward: Britain’s first black Olympian