A Growing ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: The Way Prosperity and Hardship Are Found Cheek by Jowl in England.

Within a postwar estate known as ‘The Nunny’, residents occupy properties only a few metres from their more affluent neighbours in the adjacent Scartho. A six-foot-tall wall literally divides the two areas in the town of Grimsby, blocking off paths and streets that once connected them.

“It’s the divide between rich and poor,” said a resident, 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 mix with us.”

An Increasingly Common National Picture

Data from government statistics reveals the extent of disparity often exists, sometimes over nothing more than a few metres of tarmac, a line of hedges or a wall. Years of budget cuts and underinvestment have led to a situation where a majority of local authorities now contain a neighbourhood classified as one of the most deprived in the country.

The spread of poverty has led to a sharp rise in the number of locations where disadvantaged and affluent people find themselves living side by side. In 2019, just 65 of the poorest neighbourhoods adjoined one of the least deprived. That figure increased to 119 in the latest data.

A Barrier Which Does More Than Separate Space

In Grimsby, the divide is the most pronounced in the UK and starkly obvious. The wall transcends being just a metaphorical divide; it creates tangible problems for daily routines.

• School runs that ought to take a quarter of an hour become an sixty-minute detour.
• Access to important services like grocery stores, educational facilities and care homes is made more difficult.
• The area can attract vandalism and loitering, with instances of litter being thrown over the wall and related issues.

“You try to have a nice house and nice garden, and then you live opposite that,” said one resident, motioning at the corroded barricade.

Local Bonds Amidst Hardship

Within Centre4, workers stress that need transcends postcodes. “Your postcode is not a reliable indicator of your level of challenge,” explained chief executive a community leader.

Regardless of being placed in the most deprived 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, Nunsthorpe boasts a strong sense and sense of togetherness among its residents. By contrast, Scartho is classified among the most prosperous 10% nationally.

A Similar Story: Stanhope in Ashford

This phenomenon is mirrored nationally. The Stanhope area in Kent, a 1960s overspill estate, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of neighbourhoods in the country. It is immediately adjacent by spacious detached homes built in the 2000s that sit in the top 10% for employment and quality of surroundings.

“They may possess bigger houses, but here there’s more community,” commented a long-term resident, 63. “It’s likely many people in the new builds never even talk to each other.”

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

Residents speak of a tangible sense of being overlooked. “This part of the community is neglected,” stated holistic health worker Susan Riley-Nevers. “Over here our amenities have gradually disappeared, and the majority of the issues we face here are related to poverty.”

The rise in these ‘deprivation divides’ paints a picture of an increasingly divided society, where wealth and need are often uncomfortably in close proximity.