A Growing ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: How Affluence and Hardship Now Sit Side by Side in Across England.

Within a postwar estate known as ‘The Nunny’, inhabitants occupy properties just a few metres from their more affluent counterparts in nearby Scartho village. One 1.8-metre-high barricade literally separates the two communities in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, blocking off roads and walkways that previously linked them.

“This is the posh-poor divide,” said a resident, aged 37. “It has been there for as long as I’ve known. I doubt they’ll bring it down because I suspect they’ll want to mix with us.”

A Stark National Picture

Analysis of government figures reveals how deep disparity often exists, sometimes over nothing more than a short distance of tarmac, a line of hedges or a barrier. Decades of austerity and lack of funding have led to a situation where almost two-thirds of local authorities now contain a locality ranking as one of the most deprived in the nation.

This spread of deprivation has coincided with a sharp increase in the quantity of locations where deprived and well-off people end up living side by side. In 2019, only 65 of the most deprived areas bordered one of the least deprived. That figure increased to 119 in the latest data.

A Barrier Which Divides More Than Space

At this Lincolnshire site, the divide is the most pronounced in the UK and starkly obvious. The wall transcends being just a metaphorical division; it causes very real difficulties for everyday life.

• School runs that should take a quarter of an hour become an sixty-minute journey.
• Reaching important services like grocery stores, schools and employment centres is made more difficult.
• The site can attract 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,” noted one resident, gesturing towards the rusted barricade.

Community Spirit Amidst Challenges

At Centre4, workers stress that need does not recognise addresses. “Where you live doesn’t necessarily indicate your personal struggles,” explained director Tracey Good.

Regardless of ranking in the lowest 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, Nunsthorpe retains a fierce loyalty and sense of community among its inhabitants. Meanwhile, the neighbouring area is classified among the most prosperous 10% nationally.

A Similar Story: An Estate in Kent

This phenomenon is repeated nationally. The Stanhope estate in Kent, a 1960s housing development, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of neighbourhoods in the country. It is immediately adjacent by spacious houses built in the 2000s that are in the top 10% for employment and living environment.

“They may possess bigger houses, but here there’s a stronger community,” said a long-term resident, 63. “It’s likely a lot of people over there never even talk to each other.”

The financial gap is evident: an average family home costs about £275,000 on the estate, while across the divide equivalent properties go for about £410,000.

Residents describe a tangible sense of being overlooked. “This part of the community gets ignored,” stated resident Susan Riley-Nevers. “In this area our facilities have gradually disappeared, and most of the community problems here are to do with poverty.”

The rise in these ‘deprivation divides’ paints a picture of an ever more divided England, where wealth and need are frequently awkwardly in close proximity.