A Growing ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: How Prosperity and Deprivation Now Sit Side by Side in England.

In Nunsthorpe, inhabitants live in properties only a few metres from their more affluent neighbours in the adjacent Scartho. One 1.8-metre-high wall physically divides the two areas in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, blocking off roads and walkways that once linked them.

“This is the divide between rich and poor,” remarked a resident, aged 37. “It’s been like this for as long as I’ve known. I doubt they’ll take it down because I suspect they’ll want to associate with us.”

A Stark National Picture

Data from government statistics shows the extent of disparity can run, sometimes across little more than a short distance of tarmac, a line of hedges or a barrier. Decades of austerity and underinvestment have led to a situation where a majority of local authorities now contain a locality ranking as one of the poorest in the country.

This geographical widening of deprivation has led to a significant increase in the number of locations where disadvantaged and affluent people end up as immediate neighbours. Just a few years ago, only 65 of the poorest neighbourhoods adjoined one of the least deprived. That figure increased to 119 in the latest data.

A Barrier Which Divides More Than Space

In Grimsby, the divide is the biggest in the country and painfully apparent. The barrier is much more than a metaphorical divide; it causes very real difficulties for everyday life.

• School runs that should take a quarter of an hour turn into an sixty-minute journey.
• Reaching key services like supermarkets, educational facilities and employment centres is hindered.
• The site often sees antisocial behaviour, with reports of rubbish being thrown over the wall and related problems.

“You try to have a nice house and nice garden, and then you reside facing that,” said one resident, motioning at the rusted metal wall.

Local Bonds Amidst Hardship

Within Centre4, staff stress that support transcends postcodes. “Your postcode doesn’t necessarily indicate your personal struggles,” explained director a community leader.

Regardless of ranking in the most deprived 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, Nunsthorpe boasts a fierce loyalty and feeling of togetherness among its inhabitants. By contrast, Scartho is classified among the least deprived 10% nationally.

A Similar Story: Stanhope in Ashford

This phenomenon is mirrored nationally. The Stanhope estate in Ashford, Kent, a 1960s overspill estate, is in the 10% most deprived of areas in England. It is closely bordered by large houses built in the early 2000s that are in the wealthiest tenth for employment and living environment.

“They might have larger properties, but here there’s more community,” commented a long-term resident, aged 63. “It’s likely a lot of people over there never even talk to each other.”

The economic gap is clear: an typical family home sells for about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while across the divide equivalent homes fetch about £410,000.

Residents speak of a palpable sense of being overlooked. “This part of the community is neglected,” said resident Susan Riley-Nevers. “Over here our amenities have gradually disappeared, and most of the community problems here are to do with poverty.”

The rise in these ‘deprivation divides’ presents a portrait of an ever more divided society, where wealth and deprivation are frequently awkwardly close neighbours.