About three in five planned free schools are slated to open in areas with rising numbers of surplus pupil places, analysis by Schools Week has found.
And half of mainstream primary and secondary schools in the “pre-opening” stage are in areas where more than 10 per cent of places will be “spare” next academic year.
Council bosses warn the findings “demonstrate the need for a more coherent system with local authorities at its centre with strategic oversight”.
But school leaders behind free school projects, some of which have been in the pipeline for more than six years, said the figures did not tell the whole story, with housebuilding expected to drive demand in specific neighbourhoods.
