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

In Nunsthorpe, inhabitants occupy homes just a few metres from their more affluent neighbours in the adjacent Scartho. A six-foot-tall barricade physically separates the two areas in the town of Grimsby, sealing off roads and walkways that previously linked them.

“It’s the posh-poor divide,” said Serenity Colley, 37. “It has been there since I’ve known. I don’t think they’ll bring it down because I don’t think they’ll want to associate with us.”

A Stark Pattern Across the Country

Data from official statistics shows how deep disparity often exists, at times across nothing more than a short distance of tarmac, a hedge row or a wall. Years of austerity and underinvestment have led to a situation where a majority of local authorities now have a locality classified as one of the most deprived in the nation.

The geographical widening of deprivation has coincided with a significant rise in the number of locations where deprived and well-off residents end up living side by side. Just a few years ago, only 65 of the most deprived areas bordered one of the wealthiest. This number increased to 119 in the latest data.

A Barrier Which Does More Than Separate Land

At this Lincolnshire site, the divide is the biggest in the UK and painfully obvious. The barrier is much more than a metaphorical division; it creates tangible difficulties for daily routines.

• School runs that should take a quarter of an hour turn into an hour-long journey.
• Access to important services like grocery stores, educational facilities and care homes is hindered.
• The site can attract antisocial behaviour, with instances of litter being thrown over the wall and related problems.

“People strive to maintain a well-kept home and garden, and then you live opposite that,” said one local, motioning at the rusted barricade.

Local Bonds Against a Backdrop of Challenges

At a local community centre, staff stress that need does not recognise addresses. “Where you live doesn’t necessarily indicate your level of challenge,” said director Tracey Good.

Regardless of being placed in the most deprived 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, the estate boasts a fierce loyalty and sense of community among its residents. By contrast, the neighbouring area ranks among the least deprived 10% overall.

Echoes Elsewhere: An Estate in Kent

This pattern is repeated nationally. The Stanhope area in Kent, a 1960s overspill estate, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of areas in the country. It is immediately adjacent by spacious houses built in the 2000s that sit in the wealthiest tenth for employment and living environment.

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

The economic divide 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 describe a palpable sense of being overlooked. “Our neighbourhood is neglected,” said resident Susan. “Over here our facilities have gradually disappeared, and the majority of the community problems here are to do with financial hardship.”

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