A Growing ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: The Way Affluence and Deprivation Are Found Cheek by Jowl in Across England.
Within Nunsthorpe, residents live in homes only a few metres from their more affluent counterparts in nearby Scartho. One six-foot-tall wall physically divides the two areas in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, blocking off paths and streets that once linked them.
“It’s the posh-poor divide,” remarked Serenity Colley, aged 37. “It’s been like this 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.”
An Increasingly Common National Picture
Analysis of official figures reveals the extent of inequality can run, sometimes across nothing more than a short distance of asphalt, a line of hedges or a wall. Decades of austerity and underinvestment mean almost two-thirds of local authorities now have a neighbourhood classified as one of the most deprived in the country.
The geographical widening of poverty has led to a significant increase in the quantity of locations where deprived and well-off residents end up as immediate neighbours. 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 most pronounced in the country and starkly obvious. The wall transcends being just a symbolic divide; it creates very real difficulties for everyday life.
- School runs that should take 15-20 minutes turn into an sixty-minute journey.
- Reaching key services like grocery stores, educational facilities and care homes is made more difficult.
- The site can attract antisocial behaviour, with instances of litter being dumped over the wall and related issues.
“People strive to have a well-kept home and garden, and then you live opposite that,” said one resident, motioning at the rusted barricade.
Community Spirit Amidst Hardship
Within Centre4, staff stress that support does not recognise addresses. “Your postcode doesn’t necessarily indicate your personal struggles,” said director a community leader.
Despite being placed in the lowest 10% for multiple deprivation indicators, Nunsthorpe retains a strong sense and sense of community among its residents. Meanwhile, Scartho ranks among the least deprived 10% nationally.
Echoes Elsewhere: Stanhope in Ashford
This phenomenon is repeated across the country. The Stanhope estate in Ashford, Kent, a mid-century housing development, is in the 10% most deprived of neighbourhoods in the country. It is immediately adjacent by spacious detached homes built in the 2000s that are in the top 10% for job prospects and living environment.
“They may possess bigger houses, but here there’s a stronger community,” commented a long-term resident, 63. “It’s likely many people over there never even talk to each other.”
The economic divide is evident: an average family home sells for about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while across the divide comparable properties fetch about £410,000.
Locals describe a tangible feeling of being overlooked. “This part of the community gets ignored,” said resident Susan. “Over here our facilities have slowly been taken away, and the majority of the issues we face here are related to financial hardship.”
The increase in these ‘inequality borders’ presents a portrait of an increasingly divided society, where wealth and deprivation are often uncomfortably in close proximity.