Campaigners have refused to give up hope after losing their immediate fight to save a centuries old tree which helps commemorate two brothers who were killed in a road accident.
The 200-year-old Scots Pine at Perth Academy, which featured on the first Ordnance Survey map in 1866, has a plaque and is next to a bench in memory of former pupils Callum and Ethan Owen who died in a crash in 2009.
Pupils raised 500 names on a petition to save it, but Perth and Kinross Council's education department wants to remove it to make way for a synthetic sports pitch.
The local authority's tree and woodland officer told councillors it was "a very important tree due to its age, history, location, condition and contribution to landscape quality and biodiversity". He believed every effort should be made to come up with a revised layout to allow its retention.
Sandy Bremner, chairman of Perth Civic Trust wrote to the council saying "it would be an absolute scandal if the council were to go ahead with its destruction".
Around 40 pupils took part in a vigil on Friday night in protest against the plan.
Yesterday the council's development management committee agreed to approve the education department's application. Andrew Fairbairn, from Woodland Trust Scotland, said: "It might not be too late. The design of the pitch could be altered to allow the tree to survive."
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