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

In a postwar estate known as ‘The Nunny’, inhabitants live in homes just several yards from their more affluent counterparts in the adjacent Scartho. One six-foot-tall wall literally divides the two communities in the town of Grimsby, sealing off paths and streets that previously connected 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 bring it down because I don’t think they’ll want to mix with us.”

An Increasingly Common National Picture

Analysis of official figures reveals the extent of disparity often exists, at times across little more than a few metres of tarmac, a hedge row or a barrier. Decades of austerity and lack of funding have led to a situation where a majority of councils now have a locality ranking as one of the poorest in the country.

The spread of deprivation has coincided with a significant increase in the quantity of locations where disadvantaged and affluent people find themselves as immediate neighbours. Just a few years ago, just 65 of the most deprived areas adjoined one of the least deprived. This number increased to 119 in the latest data.

A Barrier Which Does More Than Separate Space

At this Lincolnshire site, the gap is the biggest in the country and starkly apparent. The wall transcends being just a symbolic divide; it causes tangible difficulties for everyday life.

• The school commute that should take a quarter of an hour turn into an hour-long journey.
• Access to important services like supermarkets, educational facilities and care homes is made more difficult.
• The area often sees antisocial behaviour, with reports of rubbish being thrown over the wall and related issues.

“People strive to have a nice house and nice garden, and then you live opposite that,” said one local, motioning at the rusted barricade.

Community Spirit Amidst Challenges

Within a local community centre, workers stress that need does not recognise postcodes. “Your postcode doesn’t necessarily indicate your level of challenge,” said director Tracey Good.

Despite ranking in the most deprived 10% for multiple deprivation indicators, Nunsthorpe boasts a strong sense and feeling of togetherness among its inhabitants. Meanwhile, the neighbouring area is classified among the most prosperous 10% overall.

A Similar Story: An Estate in Kent

This pattern is mirrored across the country. The Stanhope area in Ashford, Kent, a 1960s housing development, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of neighbourhoods in England. It is immediately adjacent by large houses built in the early 2000s that are in the top 10% for employment and quality of surroundings.

“They might have bigger houses, but here there’s more community,” said a long-term resident, aged 63. “You’ll probably find a lot of people over there never even talk to each other.”

The financial divide is evident: an typical three-bedroom house sells for about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while on the other side equivalent properties fetch about £410,000.

Residents describe a palpable feeling of being overlooked. “Our neighbourhood is neglected,” stated resident Susan. “Over here our amenities have gradually disappeared, and the majority of the community problems here are to do with poverty.”

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