The return of parkrun in England is at risk of being “delayed indefinitely," with Watford Borough Council being on board to bring back the weekly running event past the intended date.

Watford Borough Council says that it is open to welcoming parkrun back to Cassiobury Park after all national lockdown restrictions are expected to be lifted, which is currently expected to be June 21.

If the date is revised, then the council says it will need to review any activities or events impacted.

This means that the popular free 5km running event that takes part every week could face delays nationally, organisers have warned.

The event that attracts more than 200,000 people every week was expected to return around parks nationally on June 5, but only a third of adult parkruns have been granted permission by local authorities and landowners to return.

In fact, the organisers of parkrun says only 161 of 589 events have landowner permission to return.

The organisers wrote: “As things stand, the return of the free, weekly, community events hangs in the balance, with organisers confirming that the number of permissions must increase significantly over the next seven days for any of the events to return on Saturday June 5 as planned.”

Locally, parkrun events take place in Cassiobury Park, Rickmansworth Aquadrome and South Oxhey Playing Fields.

Three Rivers District Council has revealed that it has not given formal approval for parkrun to commence in its sites.

A spokesperson said: "Parks and open spaces have been extremely busy over recent months and at this stage the council has not given formal approval for parkrun to commence.

"This is under constant review with a number of factors taken into consideration."

It was said that the council is "extremely supportive" of the parkrun events and the physical and mental health benefits it brings.

However there are concerns that Rickmansworth Aquadrome will not allow runners to keep their distance, and large scale events must be assessed to see how it transmits the virus.

The organisers of parkrun wrote: “Despite legal permission to return and support from Government, Public Health England and Sport England, a combination of obstacles including misunderstanding the Government’s Roadmap, reluctance, hesitation and unnecessary red tape threatens to delay the return of parkrun indefinitely.”

A decision must be made by this Friday (May 21) – two weeks ahead of the planned return – to finalise if the events will restart on June 5 or not.

They continued: “With all other sports returning, alongside the reopening of indoor dining and hospitality, further roadblocks to parkrun’s return feel unreasonable, with non-response, red tape and internal administrative processes standing in the way of the inclusive, community physical activity.”

Conservative MP David Davis wrote to all MPs where landowners have not approved parkrun’s return on June 5 to say it would be a “national embarrassment” if parkrun did not resume.