Braintree district secondary schools are not facing a crisis in places, according to Essex County Council.

The Local Government Authority warned that 49 per cent of local authorities will be unable to meet rising demand for secondary school places within the next five years.

But Essex County Council insist it is on track to produce the additional 75 secondary school places needed per year in Braintree by 2026.

Department for Education figures and pupil forecasts warn that more than 125,000 children face missing out on a secondary school place by 2022/23.

The LGA said councils urgently need to be given powers to force academies and free schools to expand if additional places are needed in a local area and voluntary agreement cannot be reached.

Cllr Ray Gooding, Essex County Council’s Cabinet Member for Education, said: “We have a fantastic track record of investment in new school places in Essex and spent about £74million creating more than 2,500 places for the new academic year. As a result, we were able to offer a record percentage of pupils a place at their parents’ preferred primary and secondary schools.

“Over the next few years we also expect the pressure to shift from primary to secondary schools and our current projections show 13,620 new secondary school places will be needed across Essex over the next decade. We have already committed to spending about £230million on creating new school places over the next three years and remain committed to ensuring there are enough places to meet demand.”

The LGA have also called on councils to be given back powers to build new schools in areas where they are needed.

Cllr Richard Watts, Chair of the LGA’s Children and Young People Board, said: “As the LGA has previously warned, the school places squeeze is now about to hit secondary schools. More and more families will face growing uncertainty when trying to secure their child’s secondary school without action.

“Councils have worked hard to help create almost 600,000 additional primary places since 2010. This is no small feat. However, as those children move on to secondary schools, the majority of which are now academies, securing new secondary places in the areas where they are needed is becoming increasingly difficult.

“If we are to avoid this looming secondary school places crisis, councils need to be able to force existing academy schools to expand if voluntary agreement is impossible and must be given back powers to open new maintained schools themselves.”