Councillors have blocked a third attempt by mobile phone companies to put up a mast next to an Oxford school.

Telecoms giants Hutchinson 3G UK and O2 have each tried to install a reception-boosting phone mast next to Peers School, in Sandy Lane West, Littlemore, in the last two years.

Oxford city councillors rebuffed Hutchinson 3G UK's latest attempt to put up the 15 metre pole following an outcry from local residents.

More than 100 householders from the area - including residents of Bampton Close, Spring Lane and Nunnery Close - signed petitions against the mast on health grounds.

Other neighbours said it would have a negative impact on the area's skyline.

Peers School objected on the grounds that it would be unsightly and intrusive.

Sue Moon, of Herschel Crescent, wrote to the council to say it would be a blemish on the horizon.

After hearing the mast plan had been thrown out yet again, she said: "It's great it's not going ahead.

"Our garden is quite secluded and a nice place to go to and it just felt as though it would be an intrusion.

"I know they can't prove it causes health problems but I don't want to live with one looming over me."

Jeanne Luste-Manning, of Spring Lane, said: "I think it's a bit silly to put a mobile phone mast close to a school.

"We don't really know what effects mobile phone masts have - I think we need to look after our future generations."

Councillors called in the application and rejected it because other areas had not been fully explored as sites for the mast.

Hutchinson 3G UK, which runs the '3' mobile phone network, and 02 both had applications for similar mast designs at the same spot refused in June last year.

Both companies appealed but were unsuccessful.

It is not known if Hutchinson 3G UK intends to appeal against the latest knockback, but Northfield Brook Councillor Jane Lacey, who sits on the south east area committee that rejected the proposal, said: "I think this is a victory. It is a victory for common sense.

"There are plenty of areas near there that are not residential.

"They want to get a better reception on Blackbird Leys but we have already got a good reception here.

"It is not a bad signal area and I can't see why they'd want to put one that close."

A spokesman for Hutchinson 3G UK was unavailable for comment.