Councils urged to allow Parkrun events to resume

Robert Jenrick and Oliver Dowden have written to councils across England urging for weekly Parkrun events to resume.

The Communities Secretary and Culture Secretary said in the letter that sport and physical activity were particularly important ‘as we recover from the pandemic’ and reminded authorities that such events were exempt from legal gathering limits and could take place with any number of participants as long as they were in line with coronavirus guidance.

The 5km local runs have yet to restart despite organised outdoor sport being allowed without a cap on numbers since 29 March under eased lockdown rules. Parkrun had hoped to restart events on 5 June after it was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, but fewer than half of its venues approved the runs.

It said 250 locations in England had given them permission to run on the planned date, but that this fell ‘far short’ of the number needed to prevent overcrowding at the areas given the go ahead. It is believed that most of the issues arise due to land permissions.

Around 150 landowners, including a number of local authorities, have either refused permission for Parkrun to return, or not yet replied to correspondence from the organisers, according to the letter.

The letter said: “In the interest of public health they should now restart. We therefore strongly urge local authorities to ensure that they are applying their powers in a consistent and proportionate manner and progressing Parkrun's applications at pace in order to allow these events to return as soon as possible.”