More than four in five local authority areas now have at least one open free school, as 52 more open for the first time this month.

The new free schools will take the total that have opened since the programme was launched by the coalition government in 2010 to more than 500.

In the same period, 19 free schools closed, including 10 studio schools and three university technical colleges (UTCs).

Last week Tes revealed that the Department for Education’s plans for a further expansion of the programme would involve 150 schools being housed in temporary sites.

The decision is likely to cost £75m and has been condemned as a ‘scandal’ by Meg Hillier, chair of the House of Commons public accounts committee . 

London is currently the region with the most new free schools, at 11, while the West Midlands has the fewest, with two opening.

Schools minister Lord Nash said: “These 52 new schools will provide much-needed places and encourage innovation, driving up standards and ensuring even more parents have the choice of a good school place for their child.” 

The new schools include the Bobby Moore Academy, a 4-19 school on the site of the former Olympic Park, which has links to West Ham United Football Club, and the Scott Medical and Healthcare College in Plymouth, which specialises in healthcare occupations.

The Department for Education said that 124 out of 152 local authority areas now have at least one open free school, and that the new free schools would provide an extra 33,000 places.

The majority of the new free schools, 37, are mainstream, with six special schools, three studio schools, and one providing alternative provision.

The list also includes five new university technical colleges, in Tower Hamlets, Hull, Gloucestershire, Westminster and Portsmouth.

According to official statistics published in June, free schools were both more likely to be judged outstanding, and more likely to be judged inadequate, than state-funded schools overall.

They showed that, at the end of March, 29 per cent of free schools had Ofsted’s top grade, compared to 21 per cent of all schools.

And 5 per cent of free schools had Ofsted’s lowest grade, compared to 2 per cent of all schools.