The Rising ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: How Affluence and Deprivation Now Sit Side by Side in England.

Within Nunsthorpe, residents occupy homes only several yards from their more affluent neighbours in nearby Scartho village. A six-foot-tall barricade literally divides the two communities in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, sealing off roads and walkways that once linked them.

“This is the posh-poor divide,” said Serenity Colley, aged 37. “It’s been like this since I’ve known. I doubt they’ll take it down because I suspect they’ll want to associate with us.”

An Increasingly Common Pattern Across the Country

Data from government statistics reveals how deep inequality often exists, sometimes across little more than a short distance of asphalt, a hedge row or a wall. Decades of austerity and lack of funding have led to a situation where a majority of local authorities now contain a neighbourhood classified as one of the poorest in the country.

This geographical widening of deprivation has coincided with a sharp increase in the number of places where disadvantaged and affluent residents end up as immediate neighbours. In 2019, just 65 of the poorest areas bordered one of the wealthiest. That figure increased to 119 in the latest data.

A Barrier Which Divides More Than Land

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

• School runs that ought to take 15-20 minutes turn into an hour-long journey.
• Reaching key services like grocery stores, educational facilities and employment centres is made more difficult.
• The site often sees vandalism and loitering, with instances of litter being dumped over the wall and related issues.

“You try to have a well-kept home and garden, and then you live opposite that,” said one local, gesturing towards the corroded metal wall.

Local Bonds Amidst Challenges

At Centre4, staff stress that support transcends addresses. “Your postcode is not a reliable indicator of your level of challenge,” said director Tracey Good.

Regardless of ranking in the most deprived 10% for multiple deprivation indicators, Nunsthorpe boasts a strong sense and feeling of community among its inhabitants. By contrast, Scartho is classified among the least deprived 10% nationally.

A Similar Story: An Estate in Kent

This phenomenon is mirrored nationally. The Stanhope area in Ashford, Kent, a 1960s overspill estate, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of areas in the country. It is closely bordered by spacious detached homes built in the 2000s that are in the wealthiest tenth for job prospects and living environment.

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

The economic gap is clear: an typical three-bedroom house costs about £275,000 on the estate, while across the divide equivalent properties go for about £410,000.

Locals speak of a palpable feeling of neglect. “Our neighbourhood gets ignored,” stated holistic health worker Susan Riley-Nevers. “In this area our facilities have gradually disappeared, and most of the issues we face here are related to financial hardship.”

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