Environment: Councillor's chain reaction

A councillor chained herself to a town hall balcony last night in protest at plans to allow housing on green belt land. Naomi Ridley, 25, stormed out of a meeting of Slough Borough Council, after it passed proposals to allow 1,000 homes to be built on green-field sites outside the Berkshire town.

The independent Liberal councillor padlocked herself to railings with a length of chain and erected a banner proclaiming "Save Our Green Belt".