THE St Helens North MP Conor McGinn was right to highlight the devastating rate of suicide across the borough when he spoke at a House of Commons debate this week.

He was also right to bring the matter to the attention of the Government minister responsible for suicide prevention, Jackie Doyle-Price.

Given the seriousness of the situation, it’s somewhat surprising that she is yet to visit the area with the highest suicide rate in the country to understand the problems the town is facing.

But her commitment to visit presents an opportunity for St Helens to outline some of the social, health and economic challenges that are contributing to such a sad picture here.

Good work locally is being carried out – with the council encouraging people to attend suicide awareness classes so they are equipped with the skills to help family members, friends or colleagues who are in crisis.

But Mr McGinn is correct to highlight the links between deprived areas and suicide, with debt, poverty and worklessness one of the risk factors for men.

The minster’s visit gives the MP and other leaders the chance to highlight the neglect northern communities such as St Helens have faced for too long and set out the support that is needed to implement short and long-term changes.

n It is no surprise that businesses are becoming fed up with the flooding on College Street, at Gerards Bridge.

This has been a problem for decades and does appear to be getting worse.

It is one of the major routes in and out of St Helens – with many businesses nearby – and it seems to be flooding to some extent after every sustained period of heavy rainfall.

Let’s hope St Helens Council and the Environment Agency can work up a plan to tackle the problem.