Adonis: We want 70 academies in London by 2011

Private companies and faith groups will be handed unprecedented control of London's state schools under a radical blueprint for education, the Evening Standard can reveal.

Ministers will double the number of semi-independent academies in the capital from the current 34 to 70 in three years in a drive to raise standards. The move will mean at least one in six state schools in London will be an academy by September 2011.

Teachers immediately threatened a campaign against the new schools, claiming they would not be democratically accountable.

The academies programme was set up under Tony Blair to transform failing comprehensives in poor areas with the help of private sector money. In exchange for up to £2million, sponsors including faith groups and business figures gain control over the running of an academy, setting its ethos and appointing its governors.

Schools minister Lord Adonis outlined an £80million plan to extend the London Challenge initiative - which the Government claims has brought major improvements in standards - for another three years.

In an interview with the Standard, he said: "Academies are popular, successful and we therefore think it's right to accelerate the establishment of new academies in London.

"We are making this new commitment to have at least 70 academies open by September 2011 - a firm commitment to more than double the number of academies open over the next three years."

The Government's previous aspiration had been to open 60 academies in the capital but no date was set for achieving that. GCSE results in the schools have improved at two-andahalf times the average rate across England , s a id Lord Adonis. Academies in London last year had an average of 3.4 applications for every place. In academies that did not replace failing schools but were set up in new areas, there were more than six applications per place.

Shadow schools secretary Michael Gove said: "More academies are a good thing but they need more freedom too. Under [Schools Secretary] Ed Balls academies have seen their freedoms diminished and Labour local authorities have stifled their opportunity to provide real competition."

The academies policy has attracted fierce opposition from teachers' unions, who see it as the "part-privatisation" of state education.

Last week, figures showed soaring numbers of children were being thrown out of academies, in what critics claimed was a ploy to boost exam results by ditching difficult pupils.

Christine Blower, acting general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, warned that members were prepared for a vigorous campaign against more of the institutions. "It is very likely that for all of the schools proposed in London there will at least be the consideration of a campaign," she said. "The NUT will continue to make the case against academies."

Ms Blower said parents should be told the "whole story" about the schools: "Exclusions from academies are much higher than from the schools that remain in the local authority. I venture the question whether there might be a connection between improving exam results and the number of exclusions.

"We believe that all efforts should be bent towards providing a good local school, a democratically accountable school for every child in London and elsewhere. There are plenty of good local schools that are also improving their results."