Editor's Pick of the Week: Two-minute standoffs in Ripon and roundabouts in Harrogate

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Anyone who has sat in a council meeting before knows they can sometimes be long, drawn out affairs which takes hours to get anywhere.

As journalists, its our job to sit in them and report to you what happens inside council chambers.

This can be a blessing and a curse. It can also be extraordinary, as was the case on Monday night when our editor managed to grab a two-minute clip of a standoff between the newly elected mayor of Ripon and a local resident.

The political turbulence in Ripon has been well documented by the Stray Ferret over the past month. But the standoff on Monday night demonstrated the tension between some residents and councillors.

The exchange included claims that the meeting was “procedurally inept” before the the mayor and resident attempted to talk over each other for two minutes. You can watch the whole clip here.

Another part of being a journalist is keeping an eye on what the council is up to.

Sifting through documents is not always as glamorous as films like Spotlight and All The President’s Men make them out to be.

However, sometimes you hit upon gold.

This week, we revealed that North Yorkshire Council wants to triple the size of Pot Bank roundabout near Beckwithshaw to cope with new housing traffic.

For some residents, this will be seen as the first step in the council finally addressing concerns over a lack of infrastructure to cope with thousands of new homes planned for the west of Harrogate.

However, for others, it may be seen as more roadwork hell to come.

As one reader put it: “Oh exciting, more roadworks :-)”.

John Plummer is away.