A Growing ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: How Affluence and Deprivation Are Found Side by Side in Across England.

In Nunsthorpe, inhabitants live in homes only several yards from their wealthier neighbours in the adjacent Scartho village. One six-foot-tall barricade physically separates the two communities in the town of Grimsby, sealing off roads and walkways that once linked them.

“This is the posh-poor divide,” remarked a resident, 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.”

An Increasingly Common National Picture

Analysis of government figures reveals how deep inequality often exists, sometimes across little more than a short distance of tarmac, a line of hedges or a wall. Years of austerity and lack of funding have led to a situation where a majority of councils now have a neighbourhood classified as one of the poorest in the country.

The geographical widening of deprivation has coincided with a significant rise in the quantity of places where deprived and well-off people end up as immediate neighbours. In 2019, just 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods adjoined one of the least deprived. This number increased to 119 in the most recent data.

A Wall That Divides More Than Space

In Grimsby, the gap is the biggest in the UK and painfully apparent. The barrier transcends being just a symbolic divide; it causes very real difficulties for daily routines.

• School runs that should take a quarter of an hour turn into an hour-long detour.
• Reaching important services like grocery stores, schools and care homes is hindered.
• The site often sees antisocial behaviour, with reports of litter being dumped over the wall and related issues.

“You try to have a well-kept home and garden, and then you reside facing that,” said one local, motioning at the corroded barricade.

Community Spirit Amidst Hardship

Within Centre4, staff emphasise that need transcends addresses. “Where you live is not a reliable indicator of your personal struggles,” explained chief executive a community leader.

Regardless of ranking in the lowest 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, the estate boasts a strong sense and feeling of togetherness among its residents. By contrast, the neighbouring area is classified among the least deprived 10% overall.

A Similar Story: An Estate in Kent

This phenomenon is repeated across the country. The Stanhope estate in Ashford, Kent, a 1960s housing development, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of areas in the country. It is immediately adjacent by spacious detached homes built in the 2000s that sit in the wealthiest tenth for job prospects and quality of surroundings.

“They may possess larger properties, but here there’s more community,” said a long-term resident, aged 63. “You’ll probably find a lot of people over there don’t even speak to each other.”

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

Residents describe a tangible sense of being overlooked. “Our neighbourhood gets ignored,” stated resident Susan Riley-Nevers. “Over here our facilities have gradually disappeared, and most of the community problems here are to do with poverty.”

The rise in these ‘deprivation divides’ paints a picture of an increasingly segregated England, where prosperity and deprivation are often uncomfortably in close proximity.