A Growing ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: The Way Prosperity and Deprivation Now Sit Side by Side in Across England.
Within a postwar estate known as ‘The Nunny’, inhabitants occupy properties only several yards from their wealthier counterparts in nearby Scartho. A six-foot-tall barricade physically divides the two communities in the town of Grimsby, sealing off paths and streets that previously connected them.
“This is the divide between rich and poor,” remarked Serenity Colley, aged 37. “It’s been like this for as long as I’ve known. I doubt they’ll take it down because I suspect they’ll want to associate with us.”
An Increasingly Common National Picture
Analysis of government statistics reveals the extent of inequality often exists, sometimes across nothing more than a few metres of tarmac, a hedge row or a wall. Decades of austerity and underinvestment mean almost two-thirds of local authorities now have a locality classified as one of the poorest in the nation.
The spread of deprivation has coincided with a significant rise in the number of locations where deprived and affluent people end up as immediate neighbours. In 2019, just 65 of the poorest neighbourhoods bordered one of the least deprived. That figure rose to 119 in the most recent data.
A Wall That Divides More Than Land
In Grimsby, the gap is the biggest in the country and painfully apparent. The wall transcends being just a metaphorical divide; it creates tangible difficulties for daily routines.
- School runs that should take a quarter of an hour turn into an hour-long journey.
- Reaching important services like supermarkets, educational facilities and employment centres is hindered.
- The area can attract vandalism and loitering, with instances of rubbish being dumped over the wall and related issues.
“People strive to have a nice house and nice garden, and then you live opposite that,” said one resident, motioning at the rusted metal wall.
Community Spirit Against a Backdrop of Challenges
Within Centre4, staff emphasise that need does not recognise addresses. “Where you live is not a reliable indicator of your personal struggles,” said chief executive a community leader.
Despite ranking in the lowest 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, Nunsthorpe boasts a strong sense and sense of community among its residents. By contrast, the neighbouring area is classified among the most prosperous 10% nationally.
A Similar Story: Stanhope in Ashford
This pattern is mirrored nationally. The Stanhope area in Kent, a mid-century overspill estate, is in the 10% most deprived of neighbourhoods in the country. It is immediately adjacent by large detached homes built in the early 2000s that are in the top 10% for employment and quality of surroundings.
“They may possess larger properties, but here there’s a stronger community,” commented a long-term resident, 63. “You’ll probably find many people in the new builds never even talk to each other.”
The economic gap is clear: an typical family home costs about £275,000 on the estate, while on the other side equivalent homes fetch about £410,000.
Residents describe a palpable feeling of being overlooked. “This part of the community gets ignored,” stated holistic health worker Susan. “In this area our amenities have slowly been taken away, and the majority of the community problems here are related to poverty.”
The rise in these ‘inequality borders’ presents a portrait of an increasingly divided England, where prosperity and need are often uncomfortably close neighbours.