The Rising ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: How Affluence and Hardship Are Found Cheek by Jowl in Across England.

In a postwar estate known as ‘The Nunny’, inhabitants occupy properties only a few metres from their wealthier counterparts in nearby Scartho village. One 1.8-metre-high wall physically divides the two areas in the town of Grimsby, sealing off paths and streets that once linked them.

“It’s the posh-poor divide,” said a resident, aged 37. “It has been there since I’ve known. I don’t think they’ll take it down because I don’t think they’ll want to mix with us.”

An Increasingly Common Pattern Across the Country

Analysis of government figures shows how deep inequality often exists, at times over nothing more than a short distance of tarmac, a hedge row or a barrier. Decades of austerity and underinvestment have led to a situation where a majority of local authorities now contain a locality ranking as one of the most deprived in the country.

This spread of deprivation has led to a sharp rise in the quantity of locations where disadvantaged and well-off people find themselves as immediate neighbours. In 2019, only 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods adjoined one of the wealthiest. This number rose to 119 in the latest data.

A Wall That Divides More Than Land

At this Lincolnshire site, the gap is the most pronounced in the UK and painfully obvious. The wall transcends being just a metaphorical division; it creates tangible difficulties for everyday life.

• The school commute that should take a quarter of an hour become an sixty-minute detour.
• Reaching important services like supermarkets, educational facilities and employment centres is made more difficult.
• The area often sees antisocial behaviour, with reports of rubbish being dumped over the wall and related problems.

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

Local Bonds Amidst Hardship

At Centre4, workers stress that support does not recognise postcodes. “Where you live is not a reliable indicator of your level of challenge,” said chief executive a community leader.

Regardless of being placed in the most deprived 10% for multiple deprivation indicators, Nunsthorpe retains a fierce loyalty and feeling of community among its residents. By contrast, the neighbouring area is classified among the most prosperous 10% nationally.

Echoes Elsewhere: Stanhope in Ashford

This phenomenon is mirrored nationally. The Stanhope area in Ashford, Kent, a mid-century housing development, is in the 10% most deprived of neighbourhoods in England. It is closely bordered by spacious houses built in the 2000s that are in the top 10% for employment and quality of surroundings.

“They might have larger properties, but here there’s more community,” said Phil Hockley, aged 63. “It’s likely many people in the new builds never even talk to each other.”

The economic divide is evident: an average family home sells for about £275,000 on the estate, while across the divide comparable homes fetch about £410,000.

Residents describe a tangible feeling 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 issues we face here are to do with financial hardship.”

The rise in these ‘deprivation divides’ presents a picture of an increasingly segregated England, where wealth and deprivation are frequently awkwardly close neighbours.