The Growing ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: The Way Prosperity and Deprivation Are Found Cheek by Jowl in Across England.
In Nunsthorpe, residents occupy properties only a few metres from their more affluent counterparts in the adjacent Scartho. One six-foot-tall barricade literally divides the two communities in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, sealing off paths and streets that previously linked them.
“It’s the divide between rich and poor,” remarked Serenity Colley, 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 associate with us.”
A Stark Pattern Across the Country
Analysis of government figures reveals how deep inequality can run, sometimes across nothing more than a few metres of asphalt, a line of hedges or a wall. Years of budget cuts and lack of funding have led to a situation where almost two-thirds of local authorities now have a neighbourhood classified as one of the most deprived in the nation.
The geographical widening of poverty has coincided with a significant rise in the number of locations where disadvantaged and well-off people end up as immediate neighbours. In 2019, just 65 of the poorest areas adjoined one of the wealthiest. This number rose to 119 in the latest data.
A Wall That Does More Than Separate Space
At this Lincolnshire site, the gap is the most pronounced in the country and painfully obvious. The barrier transcends being just a symbolic division; it creates very real problems for daily routines.
- The school commute that ought to take a quarter of an hour turn into an hour-long detour.
- Reaching key services like grocery stores, schools and care homes is made more difficult.
- The area often sees vandalism and loitering, with instances of rubbish being dumped over the wall and other issues.
“People strive to have a well-kept home and garden, and then you reside facing that,” noted one local, gesturing towards the rusted metal wall.
Local Bonds Amidst Challenges
Within a local community centre, staff emphasise that support does not recognise postcodes. “Where you live doesn’t necessarily indicate your level of challenge,” said chief executive Tracey Good.
Regardless of being placed in the lowest 10% for multiple deprivation indicators, Nunsthorpe retains a fierce loyalty and feeling of togetherness among its residents. Meanwhile, the neighbouring area is classified among the least deprived 10% overall.
Echoes Elsewhere: An Estate in Kent
This phenomenon is repeated across the country. The Stanhope area in Ashford, Kent, a mid-century overspill estate, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of neighbourhoods in the country. It is immediately adjacent by large houses built in the early 2000s that sit in the wealthiest tenth for job prospects and quality of surroundings.
“They may possess bigger houses, but here there’s a stronger community,” said Phil Hockley, aged 63. “You’ll probably find a lot of people in the new builds don’t even speak to each other.”
The economic divide is clear: an average family home costs about £275,000 on the estate, while on the other side equivalent properties fetch about £410,000.
Locals speak of a tangible feeling of being overlooked. “This part of the community gets ignored,” stated resident Susan Riley-Nevers. “Over here our amenities have slowly been taken away, and most of the community problems here are to do with poverty.”
The increase in these ‘deprivation divides’ paints a portrait of an ever more divided England, where wealth and deprivation are frequently uncomfortably in close proximity.
