HUNDREDS of children across Hampshire are to be taught in temporary classrooms to cope with a shortage of primary school places.

The county council is set to apply for planning permission for mobile units at 20 schools next September.

Council figures show an extra 1,206 reception class places will be needed by 2016, excluding Southampton.

The demand has been put down to a rise in the birth rate and house building, but public spending cuts have ruled out a major school building programme.

Among the schools earmarked for temporary classrooms are Western CoE Primary, Harestock Primary, St Peter’s Catholic Primary, Winnall Primary School and All Saints CoE Primary in St Catherine’s Road, all in Winchester.

Others include Sun Hill Infant in Alresford, Hamble Primary, Norwood Primary and Crescent Primary, both in Eastleigh.

The double temporary classrooms can take up to 60 pupils and have a lobby, store room and toilets. They cost an estimated £100,000 each.

The council says between 20 and 23 new primary schools and two new secondary schools are needed over the next decade.

The county received an extra £7.8m last November to ease pressure on places.