16:32
Tieng Anh Vui
Almost half of England's school districts will have more primary pupils than places within two years, the Local Government Association (LGA) has said.
Some local areas will face a 20% shortfall in places by 2015, according to analysis of official data from 2012.
It comes as the government opens 93 free schools, raising the total to 174 and providing 43,000 new school places.
But local authority leaders want new free schools to be stopped from opening in areas that have surplus places.
Most of the free schools opening this year are in areas under pressure, but five appear to be in areas forecast to have surplus places several years from now.
The LGA is calling for the Department for Education (DfE) to work more closely with local councils, so any planning for emerging demand for places can be better managed.
And with 250,000 primary school places needed by next autumn the demand is great. But the government insists it has taken swift action to put right a situation it says was left by the Labour government.
'Desperate shortage'
However, free schools and academies are approved directly by the DfE, and this can limit a council's ability to plan strategically, especially as they have no powers to force such schools to expand or close in response to changes in demand.
LGA chairman David Simmonds said councils were facing "unprecedented pressures" in tackling what he described as the "desperate shortage" of new school places.
Some schools have already converted music rooms, libraries - even a police station in one case - into classrooms.
He added: "Local councils have a legal duty to ensure there is a school place for every child in their area but they are being hampered by uncertainty and unnecessary restrictions.
"This could result in parents scrambling for places that just don't exist and threatens to seriously impact on our children's education.
"The process of opening up much-needed schools is being impaired by a one-size-fits-all approach and in some cases by the presumption in favour of free schools and academies."
The LGA's analysis of local authority data on school-place-needs suggests about 1,000 of the 2,277 local school planning districts will be over-capacity by 2015-16.
'Piecemeal'
The greatest pressure is focused on about 99 districts, where 20% more pupils are predicted than places.
But as the analysis is based on the latest ratified official figures, submitted in 2012-13, they may not take into account more recent steps to increase school capacity.
Overall, two thirds of local authorities are predicting they will have more pupils than places by the beginning of the 2016 academic year.
Some 40 local councils are predicted to be 10% over capacity, with 15 of those predicting a 20% surplus of pupils over places.
Peterborough, Redbridge, Ealing, Bristol, Lewisham, Slough, Maidenhead, Sutton, and Barking and Dagenham will have to increase the number of school places by at least 20% to ensure every child gets a place, the LGA said.
And local government leaders are warning that councils' ability to plan locally for school places is being negatively affected by the uncertainty over future funding for extra places.
It highlights the fact that the DfE has used four different methods for funding school places since 2007.
This has led to a piecemeal approach to planning, it says, adding that councils are still in the dark as to how funds will be allocated in the future.
It is now calling for all capital funding for schools to be ploughed into one pot locally to be accessed by local-authority-run schools, academies and free schools.
'Swift action'
Education Secretary Michael Gove blamed the previous Labour government for the shortage of school places, adding that the coalition government had "taken swift action to repair the damage".
"We have more than doubled funding for new school places and we are also setting up great new free schools, which are giving parents a choice of high quality school places in areas Labour neglected.
"Ed Miliband is too weak to apologise for the shortage of school places his government left behind and too weak to stand up to the unions and back free schools."
The DfE insists free schools give parents more choice and diversity.
The New Schools Network, which helps groups set up their own schools, said free schools were well on track to deliver more than 250,000 new places by 2015.
The group's director, Natalie Evans, said the doubling of the number of free schools was good news for parents.
"With open free schools hugely popular with parents, and teachers increasingly acting as the driving force behind new schools, there is real momentum behind the growth of free schools," she said.
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