It is the news that more than 200,000 weekly devotees of parkrun across England have been dreading: its return is almost certain to be delayed again despite three-quarters of events now having approval to restart. The major stumbling block, the Guardian can reveal, is the low number of permissions from councils in several major cities. While 427 out of 564 events now have permission to resume, barely half the parkruns in London and Manchester have got the all clear. The situation in Newcastle and Middlesbrough is even worse, with no events currently allowed. As a result organisers fear some parkruns are likely to be overwhelmed and be unsafe if it returns on 26 June. It means that unless there is a late change of heart from dozens of local councils and landowners, parkrun will announce another delay on Friday. While organisers are not commenting publicly, one insider told the Guardian they increasingly feared “an impasse that could drag on”, adding: “In the absence of any legitimate reason from those landowners who are still refusing permission, a delay could be a few weeks, or it might be indefinite.” The resumption of parkrun has already been pushed back once from 5 June to 26 June, after fewer than half the landowners gave permission. And while that number has increased significantly following interventions from the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, and the World Athletics president, Seb Coe, difficulties still remain. A key issue remains the subjective assessment at local level of whether it is appropriate for parkrun events to resume or not – with some councils happy to accept reassurances from Public Health England and the government that it is a low-risk event while others have dragged their heels. Last month the parkrun chief executive, Nick Pearson, suggested the magic number of between 80-90% was needed for it to return. Another complicating factor is the announcement on Monday over whether step 4 of its roadmap out of the pandemic will go ahead on 21 June. Several landowners have granted parkrun permission to come back but only if the restrictions in England are entirely lifted – even though the government confirmed three months ago it could come back in stage one.