A quarter of Oxfordshire Body Zone clinics, offering teenagers free contraception and confidential advice about sexual health, have closed.

Some parents are opposed to the service - first introduced in April 2000 - but health chiefs said a shortage of space or poor attendance rates were to blame, not public pressure.

The clinics have been dropped by three schools and two youth clubs in deprived areas, leaving 14 schools and one youth club still running the weekly lunchtime service.

The closures come as public health workers try to tackle increasing teenage pregnancy rates in areas like Blackbird Leys, Littlemore and Rose Hill in Oxford and Bretch Hill in Banbury, as well as a growing number of sexually transmitted diseases among children.

In 2002, 384 Oxfordshire girls aged 15 to 17 became pregnant. Although the number was lower than the national rate of 42.6 per 1,000, rates in Blackbird Leys, Rose Hill, Littlemore and Barton were among the UK's highest 20 per cent.

The county's director of family planning, Dr Elizabeth Greenhall, said Body Zones had been withdrawn from Peers School in Littlemore and Banbury School because of a lack of space.

Drayton School had launched a Body Zone with its own money, but when its funds dried up the NHS was unable to pick up the bill. Youth club clinics in Rose Hill and Abingdon closed due to poor attendance and, as a result, John Mason School, Fitzharry's School and Larkmead School have lost access to the service. Dr Greenhall said: "The main difficulty is finding premises in schools. They are crowded places and rooms are like gold dust. Bodyzone doesn't suit every school. It's not that schools want to stop it because they've had complaints from parents, it just doesn't always work out.

"The school nurses are still there once a week to give pupils advice and information, and in terms of contraception there are family planning clinics and GPs -- but nothing specifically for young people at the moment."

Although the Body Zone clinic at Peers School has been transferred to Blackbird Leys youth club, Dr Greenhall admitted it was unlikely to be successful.

She said: "I think in a school it works better because it's easier for young people to drift in and out. Youth clubs are a bit territorial."

Margaret White, counsellor at Peers School, said the problem of space had developed in September when 400 extra pupils were admitted as part of Oxfordshire's education shake-up.

She said: "I think Body Zone was brilliant. It wasn't just about sexual health, but about stress, exam pressures -- anything at all. As a result, the children are losing out on a lot."