It is often said that turkeys don't vote for Christmas, which explains why council education chiefs in the region have expressed their deep unease at the growth of "free" schools.

Free schools are the Government's flagship education policy which ministers believe will improve standards in the classroom. Government-funded but free of local authority control, they can be set up by parents, teachers and a range of organisations, from businesses to universities. Allied to making it easier to open academies, a Tony Blair reform, Education Secretary Michael Gove has presented the overhaul as freeing learning from the dead hand of the state. The very essence of the much-lauded yet seldom realised "localism" agenda.

So no wonder local authorities are not exactly thrilled to be stripped of responsibility, and therefore power. But we hope elected politicians are not opposed to the radical reform for the sake of it.

In today's Western Morning News, we report senior councillors labelling free school proposals variously as an "expensive exercise" and "a joke". This will doubtless cheer teaching unions – which oppose the concept with claims that it will create a two-tier education system – but smacks of attempts to belittle inventive ideas before they get a fair hearing.

There is clear evidence that standards need to improve. Our schools have fallen down international league tables, the Ofsted watchdog has described teaching in more than 400 schools as "inadequate" and businesses complain bitterly that too many young people leave education without the most basic skills.

Who better to lead an education revolution than the people who know and care about their community? The Marine Academy in Plymouth – a school in one of the city's poorest districts driven by the University of Plymouth, Plymouth City Council and Cornwall College – wants to create a primary in tune with the area's maritime past, present and future. In the St Austell area of Cornwall, three primary schools have created the country's first academy "chain", pooling resources to halt the decline of small rural schools as pupil rolls fall. The flexibility they have been afforded has been key.

There must be safeguards to ensure new free schools are not reserved for the sharp-elbowed middle-classes. But change needs to be embraced not condemned.

The Government has a habit of getting into scraps over green spaces. The first dust-up concerned the proposed sell-off of state-owned forests, which was aborted after a public outcry. Proposals to scale-back the planning policy has prompted fears of urban sprawl. A third front has opened up over registering village greens, which ministers want to charge up to £1,000 for the privilege. There may well be bogus applications, but a price-tag should not be slapped on genuine environmental protection.