A Growing ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: The Way Prosperity and Hardship Are Found Side by Side in England.

Within a postwar estate known as ‘The Nunny’, residents occupy properties only a few metres from their wealthier neighbours in nearby Scartho. One 1.8-metre-high barricade literally separates the two communities in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, blocking off paths and streets that once linked them.

“This is the posh-poor divide,” remarked Serenity Colley, aged 37. “It’s been like this for as long as I’ve known. I don’t think they’ll take it down because I don’t think they’ll want to associate with us.”

A Stark Pattern Across the Country

Analysis of government statistics reveals the extent of inequality can run, at times across little more than a short distance of asphalt, a hedge row or a barrier. Years of austerity and lack of funding mean almost two-thirds of local authorities now contain a locality classified as one of the most deprived in the nation.

The geographical widening of poverty has coincided with 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 increased to 119 in the most recent data.

A Wall That Divides More Than Land

At this Lincolnshire site, the divide is the most pronounced in the country and painfully obvious. The barrier transcends being just a metaphorical divide; it creates tangible difficulties for daily routines.

• School runs that ought to take a quarter of an hour become an hour-long detour.
• Reaching key amenities like supermarkets, educational facilities and care homes is hindered.
• The area can attract antisocial behaviour, with instances of litter being thrown over the wall and other problems.

“People strive to have a well-kept home and garden, and then you reside facing that,” said one local, gesturing towards the rusted barricade.

Local Bonds Amidst Challenges

Within a local community centre, workers stress that support transcends addresses. “Where you live doesn’t necessarily indicate your personal struggles,” explained director a community leader.

Despite ranking in the most deprived 10% for multiple deprivation indicators, the estate boasts a fierce loyalty and feeling of community among its residents. By contrast, the neighbouring area is classified among the most prosperous 10% nationally.

A Similar Story: Stanhope in Ashford

This pattern is repeated across the country. The Stanhope estate in Kent, a mid-century housing development, is in the 10% most deprived of neighbourhoods in England. It is immediately adjacent by large houses built in the early 2000s that sit in the wealthiest tenth for employment and quality of surroundings.

“They might have bigger houses, but here there’s more community,” said Phil Hockley, 63. “It’s likely a lot of people in the new builds never even talk to each other.”

The economic gap is clear: an typical family home sells for about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while on the other side equivalent homes go for about £410,000.

Locals speak of a tangible feeling of being overlooked. “This part of the community gets ignored,” said holistic health worker Susan Riley-Nevers. “Over here our amenities have gradually disappeared, and the majority of the community problems here are to do with poverty.”

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