A huge shortage of primary places for children starting school in September has forced the government to spend hundreds of millions on temporary classrooms and extra staff.

In one area of London, where the problem is most acute, a makeshift school has been created in a church hall to cope with the added numbers.

Councils say the £200 million, expected to be announced by Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, on Wednesday is not enough and they will have to cut back local services to be able to pay for the additional pupils.

Rising birth rates and fewer parents able to afford private school because of the recession have combined to create a crisis in primary school admissions leaving thousands of four and five year olds unprovided for next term.

In Camden, north London, All Hallows church hall is rapidly being converted to accommodate at least 60 children without a place at an established school. The council says pupils will be taught in the hall for two years before space is found for them at neighboroughing mainstream schools.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) said it was aware that some authorities were dealing with “unanticipated rises in demand” for reception places - and would announce a support package on Wednesday.

Richmond-Upon-Thames, in London, has seen a spike in numbers of parents applying for state school places after an eight per cent reduction in numbers going to private school.

Malcolm Eady, Richmond Council’s lead member for Children’s Services, said proposed government funding was only one fifth of what is required to plug the gap. The council has been forced to bring in management consultants to help them cut costs. “We will have to take loans which will drive up council tax,” he said.

“Temporary classrooms are a short term solution that will be satisfactory but won’t be at the standard that we would like.

“All it will do is build up problems for the next generation.”

The problem is not just restricted to London. Temporary classrooms have been built and new staff taken on throughout the country including Bristol where there was a shortage of places for 300 families.

In Darlington the Government has injected £12.5 million to enable the council to expand four schools and build another after it emerged that the authority had too few reception class places.

A spokesman for the DCSF said: “It is clear that some \[councils\] simply did not plan for the rise in local birth rates, despite having four years to provide the extra places needed.”

Projections from the Office for National Statistics suggest that the school age population is rising, with the number of children aged under 15 expected to grow by 200,000 to 10.9 million by 2011.

But London Councils, which represents the capital’s 33 local authorities, said they were prepared for rising numbers but the impact of the recession has tipped them over the edge.

A spokesman for London Councils said: “While this money will go some way to helping local authorities meet the shortfall of primary school places, £260 million is needed immediately in the capital alone.

“This problem clearly won’t be fixed here – we also need some long-term changes to the way local authorities are funded to prevent a situation like this occurring again.”

Its report earlier this year revealed a shortfall of 2,250 places this financial year.

That would rise to 18,300 by 2014, the report said, adding: “An urgent capital funding injection is needed.”

Kingston council suggested that demand would be fuelled for years by the economic downturn reducing mobility, so leading fewer families to move out of London and more parents choosing the state sector over private schools

A survey of local authorities last month (june) suggested that one in 10 five-year-olds were missing out on their family’s first choice of primary school.

*A drive to reduce the shortage of male primary school teachers is launched this week.

Hundreds of men will attend events designed to persuade them to go into the profession, after the first rise in applicants for 100 years was seen this year.

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