Armchair critic Desmond McCarron (Gazette Letters, January 4, “Changes are needed to avoid gridlock”) had a pop at Sir Bob Russell, asking “what, if any, changes Sir Bob managed to help engineer on the parlous state of Colchester transport during his long stint in public office”.
The straight answer is, more than any current politician.
I was a parliamentary researcher to Sir Bob.
It was thanks to him raising, during Transport Questions in the House of Commons in January 2004, that Junction 28 from the A12 Colchester Northern By-pass was constructed. This allowed the Community Stadium to be built, something else Sir Bob was involved in.