A Growing ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: How Prosperity and Deprivation Are Found Side by Side in Across England.
In a postwar estate known as ‘The Nunny’, inhabitants occupy homes just a few metres from their more affluent neighbours in the adjacent Scartho village. One six-foot-tall wall physically separates the two communities in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, sealing off paths and streets that once linked them.
“It’s the divide between rich and poor,” remarked a resident, 37. “It’s been like this for as long as I’ve known. I doubt they’ll bring it down because I suspect they’ll want to mix with us.”
An Increasingly Common Pattern Across the Country
Analysis of official statistics reveals how deep inequality often exists, at times across little more than a few metres of tarmac, a hedge row or a wall. Years of budget cuts and underinvestment mean a majority of councils now have a neighbourhood ranking as one of the poorest in the nation.
The spread of poverty has led to a significant increase in the number of locations where disadvantaged and affluent residents end up as immediate neighbours. In 2019, only 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods bordered one of the wealthiest. This number increased 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 starkly apparent. The wall transcends being just a metaphorical division; it creates tangible problems for daily routines.
- The school commute that should take a quarter of an hour turn into an sixty-minute journey.
- Access to important services like grocery stores, schools and employment centres is made more difficult.
- The site often sees antisocial behaviour, with instances of rubbish being thrown over the wall and other issues.
“People strive to maintain a well-kept home and garden, and then you live opposite that,” noted one resident, motioning at the rusted barricade.
Local Bonds Against a Backdrop of Hardship
Within Centre4, staff stress that need transcends postcodes. “Your postcode doesn’t necessarily indicate your level of challenge,” explained director a community leader.
Regardless of 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 ranks among the most prosperous 10% nationally.
A Similar Story: Stanhope in Ashford
This phenomenon is repeated nationally. The Stanhope estate in Kent, a 1960s overspill estate, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of areas in the country. It is closely bordered by spacious houses built in the early 2000s that sit in the wealthiest tenth for job prospects and quality of surroundings.
“They may possess larger properties, but here there’s more community,” commented Phil Hockley, 63. “You’ll probably find a lot of people in the new builds don’t even speak to each other.”
The economic gap is clear: an typical three-bedroom house costs about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while across the divide equivalent homes go for about £410,000.
Locals describe a tangible sense of neglect. “Our neighbourhood gets ignored,” said holistic health worker Susan Riley-Nevers. “Over here our facilities have gradually disappeared, and most of the community problems here are to do with financial hardship.”
The increase in these ‘inequality borders’ presents a picture of an ever more segregated England, where wealth and deprivation are frequently awkwardly close neighbours.
