A COMMUNITY is celebrating victory after a communications company decided not install a mobile phone mast - despite winning planning permission.

Mobile giant T-Mobile had been granted permission to install a ten-metre mast and groundbase equipment 100 metres from St Andrew's Primary School in Headington, Oxford.

Local residents, concerned parents and Oxford East MP Andrew Smith all rallied against the plans, and gathered more than 500 signatures on a petition against the proposal.

Peter Rainbird, community governor for the school, said the whole community was delighted at the news.

He said: "Everyone I've spoken to is quite relieved this is not going ahead.

"It was not just the mast, but also the control box that we felt would have been a real safety hazard, right in the middle of the pavement."

Dr Rainbird said he believed the petition had made impact on the company - causing it to reconsider its plans.

He said: "If we had not fought our corner it may well have gone ahead. Without that groundswell of public opinion, who knows what would have happened."

Lou Houghok, of London Road, whose seven-year-old daughter Freida is a pupil at St Andrew's, said the decision not to install the mast was a "victory for common sense."

She said: "I'm delighted it's not going ahead as it would have been yet another obstruction on a pavement that is already very hazardous.

"Not enough is being done as it is to improve the safety of pedestrians and cyclists on this road and this would have made matters worse."

Mr Smith said the mobile company's decision not to go ahead with plans has shown it was worth battling on and arguing the case - even when planning permission had been granted.

He added: "It's really good that T-Mobile has at last taken notice of what I and local residents have been saying to them.

"But it would have saved everyone a lot of worry if they had thought better of proposing this site in the first place."

T-Mobile said it had decided not to progress with the site, despite having planning permission in place.

A spokesman added: "The operators accept that they must develop their networks in such a way as to achieve a proper balance between supporting the public's mobile phone use, on one hand, and maintaining environmental sustainability on the other."