A Rising ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: How Affluence and Hardship Now Sit Side by Side in England.
In Nunsthorpe, residents live in properties only a few metres from their more affluent neighbours in the adjacent Scartho village. A six-foot-tall wall physically separates the two areas in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, sealing off roads and walkways that once connected them.
“This is the posh-poor divide,” said Serenity Colley, 37. “It has been there for as long as 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
Analysis of official figures shows how deep disparity often exists, at times across little more than a short distance of asphalt, a hedge row or a wall. Years of budget cuts and underinvestment mean almost two-thirds of councils now contain a neighbourhood ranking as one of the poorest in the country.
This spread of poverty has led to a sharp increase in the quantity of locations where deprived and affluent people find themselves living side by side. In 2019, only 65 of the poorest areas adjoined one of the wealthiest. This number increased to 119 in the most recent data.
A Barrier Which Divides More Than Land
In Grimsby, the divide is the biggest in the country and painfully apparent. The barrier is much more than a metaphorical division; it causes tangible difficulties for daily routines.
- School runs that ought to take a quarter of an hour turn into an sixty-minute journey.
- Access to key services like supermarkets, educational facilities and care homes is hindered.
- The site can attract antisocial behaviour, with reports of rubbish being dumped 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 barricade.
Local Bonds Amidst Challenges
At Centre4, staff emphasise that need transcends postcodes. “Where you live doesn’t necessarily indicate your level of challenge,” said director a community leader.
Despite ranking in the lowest 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, the estate boasts a strong sense and feeling of togetherness among its inhabitants. By contrast, the neighbouring area is classified among the least deprived 10% nationally.
A Similar Story: Stanhope in Ashford
This pattern is mirrored across the country. The Stanhope area in Ashford, Kent, a mid-century housing development, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of areas in England. It is immediately adjacent by spacious detached homes built in the 2000s that are in the wealthiest tenth for job prospects and quality of surroundings.
“They might have bigger houses, but here there’s more community,” commented Phil Hockley, 63. “You’ll probably find many people over there don’t even speak to each other.”
The financial divide is clear: an typical three-bedroom house sells for about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while on the other side comparable properties fetch about £410,000.
Residents describe a tangible sense of being overlooked. “Our neighbourhood gets ignored,” stated resident Susan. “In this area our facilities have slowly been taken away, and the majority of the community problems here are to do with poverty.”
The rise in these ‘deprivation divides’ presents a portrait of an increasingly divided society, where prosperity and deprivation are frequently awkwardly close neighbours.