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

In Nunsthorpe, inhabitants live in homes just several yards from their more affluent neighbours in the adjacent Scartho. One 1.8-metre-high barricade literally separates the two areas in the town of Grimsby, blocking off roads and walkways that once connected them.

“It’s the divide between rich and poor,” remarked a resident, aged 37. “It’s been like this for as long as I’ve known. I don’t think they’ll bring it down because I don’t think they’ll want to associate with us.”

An Increasingly Common National Picture

Data from official figures reveals the extent of disparity can run, at times over little more than a short distance of tarmac, a hedge row or a barrier. Decades of budget cuts and underinvestment have led to a situation where a majority of local authorities now have a locality classified as one of the poorest in the country.

The spread of poverty has led to a sharp rise in the quantity of places where deprived and affluent residents end up as immediate neighbours. In 2019, only 65 of the poorest neighbourhoods adjoined one of the wealthiest. This number increased to 119 in the most recent data.

A Barrier Which Does More Than Separate Land

In Grimsby, the divide is the biggest in the UK and painfully obvious. The wall is much more than a metaphorical divide; it causes tangible difficulties for everyday life.

• The school commute that should take a quarter of an hour become an hour-long journey.
• Reaching key services like supermarkets, schools and employment centres is made more difficult.
• The site can attract vandalism and loitering, with instances of rubbish being dumped over the wall and other issues.

“People strive to maintain a well-kept home and garden, and then you reside facing that,” said one local, motioning at the rusted metal wall.

Community Spirit Amidst Hardship

At a local community centre, staff stress that need does not recognise addresses. “Your postcode is not a reliable indicator of your level of challenge,” said chief executive Tracey Good.

Regardless of being placed in the most deprived 10% for multiple deprivation indicators, Nunsthorpe retains a strong sense and feeling of community among its inhabitants. Meanwhile, Scartho is classified among the least deprived 10% nationally.

Echoes Elsewhere: An Estate in Kent

This phenomenon is mirrored nationally. The Stanhope estate in Kent, a mid-century housing development, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of neighbourhoods in England. It is immediately adjacent by spacious detached homes built in the early 2000s that are in the wealthiest tenth for job prospects and quality of surroundings.

“They may possess bigger houses, but here there’s more community,” said Phil Hockley, aged 63. “You’ll probably find many people over there don’t even speak to each other.”

The economic divide is clear: an average three-bedroom house sells for about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while on the other side comparable homes go for about £410,000.

Residents speak of a palpable sense of being overlooked. “Our neighbourhood gets ignored,” stated resident Susan Riley-Nevers. “Over here our amenities have gradually disappeared, and most of the community problems here are to do with financial hardship.”

The rise in these ‘inequality borders’ paints a picture of an ever more segregated society, where prosperity and need are frequently uncomfortably close neighbours.