Nearly half of all councils in England and Wales are in danger of failing to meet demand for secondary school places in the next five years, the Local Government Association (LGA) warned today.

It means 125,000 children face missing out by the 2022-23 academic year, LGA analysis of Department for Education (DfE) data shows.

The number of children attending primary school has increased in recent years, fuelled by a rising birth rate in the early 2000s, which will swell secondary school numbers in England by almost a fifth over the next decade.

The new National Education Union (NEU) is calling for local authorities to have their powers restored so they can open new schools to address the crisis.

The union slammed the Tories’ continued support for academy and free school expansion while blocking local authorities from opening new schools.

LGA says 12 local authorities are expected to face a shortfall in secondary school places from 2018-2019.

That figure would rise to 23 in 2019-20 and shoot up to 66 in 2022-23.

NEU joint general secretary Kevin Courtney blasted the Tories' pledge to open 500 free schools by September 2020, saying: "The free school programme is an irrational and inefficient mechanism for delivering school places.

"Time and again we have seen free schools opening where no additional places are needed, at vast expense to taxpayers, while other areas that are desperate for places see no providers coming forward."

Academies and free schools answer directly to the DfE, bypassing local state education control, and were first set up under Tony Blair's Labour government.

The scheme was extended by the Con-Dem coalition, with all existing schools allowed to apply for academy status.