A Rising ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: How Affluence and Deprivation Are Found Cheek by Jowl in England.

Within a postwar estate known as ‘The Nunny’, residents live in properties only several yards from their wealthier counterparts in nearby Scartho. One six-foot-tall wall physically separates the two communities in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, blocking off roads and walkways that once connected them.

“It’s the divide between rich and poor,” remarked a resident, aged 37. “It’s been like this for as long as I’ve known. I don’t think they’ll bring it down because I suspect they’ll want to associate with us.”

A Stark National Picture

Data from government figures shows the extent of disparity can run, sometimes over nothing more than a short distance of asphalt, a hedge row or a barrier. Decades of austerity and underinvestment have led to a situation where a majority of councils now contain a locality classified as one of the poorest in the nation.

The geographical widening of deprivation has led to a significant rise in the quantity of places where disadvantaged and well-off people end up as immediate neighbours. In 2019, only 65 of the most deprived areas bordered one of the wealthiest. That figure increased to 119 in the latest data.

A Barrier Which Does More Than Separate Space

At this Lincolnshire site, the divide is the biggest in the country and starkly obvious. The barrier transcends being just a symbolic divide; it creates very real problems for everyday life.

• The school commute that ought to take a quarter of an hour turn into an sixty-minute journey.
• Reaching key amenities like supermarkets, educational facilities and care homes is made more difficult.
• The area can attract antisocial behaviour, with reports of litter being thrown over the wall and related issues.

“You try to have a nice house and nice garden, and then you live opposite that,” said one local, gesturing towards the rusted metal wall.

Local Bonds Amidst Challenges

Within Centre4, staff emphasise that support does not recognise postcodes. “Where you live is not a reliable indicator of your level of challenge,” explained chief executive Tracey Good.

Regardless of being placed in the lowest 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, Nunsthorpe retains a strong sense and feeling of togetherness among its residents. By contrast, the neighbouring area is classified among the most prosperous 10% overall.

A Similar Story: Stanhope in Ashford

This pattern is repeated nationally. The Stanhope area in Ashford, Kent, a 1960s housing development, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of neighbourhoods in the country. It is immediately adjacent by spacious houses built in the 2000s that are in the top 10% for employment and living environment.

“They might have bigger houses, but here there’s more community,” commented a long-term resident, aged 63. “It’s likely many people over there don’t even speak to each other.”

The financial gap is evident: an typical three-bedroom house sells for about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while on the other side equivalent properties go for about £410,000.

Locals speak of a tangible sense of neglect. “Our neighbourhood gets ignored,” said holistic health worker Susan. “Over here our amenities have gradually disappeared, and the majority of the community problems here are to do with poverty.”

The increase in these ‘inequality borders’ presents a picture of an ever more segregated society, where prosperity and deprivation are often uncomfortably close neighbours.