🔗 Share this article A Growing ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: The Way Affluence and Deprivation Now Sit Side by Side in Across England. Within Nunsthorpe, residents live in properties just several yards from their more affluent counterparts in nearby Scartho village. One six-foot-tall wall literally divides the two areas 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 has been there since I’ve known. I don’t think they’ll bring it down because I don’t think they’ll want to associate with us.” A Stark National Picture Data from government statistics shows the extent of disparity often exists, sometimes across nothing more than a few metres of asphalt, a line of hedges or a wall. Decades of budget cuts and lack of funding mean a majority of local authorities now have a neighbourhood classified as one of the most deprived in the country. The geographical widening of poverty has coincided with a significant increase in the number of locations where disadvantaged and affluent residents end up living side by side. In 2019, only 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods bordered one of the wealthiest. This number rose to 119 in the latest data. A Barrier Which Does More Than Separate Space At this Lincolnshire site, the divide is the biggest in the UK and starkly obvious. The barrier is much more than a symbolic divide; it causes tangible problems for daily routines. School runs that ought to take a quarter of an hour become an sixty-minute journey. Reaching important amenities like grocery stores, educational facilities and employment centres is made more difficult. The site can attract antisocial behaviour, with reports of litter being dumped over the wall and related problems. “People strive to maintain a nice house and nice garden, and then you reside facing that,” said one resident, motioning at the rusted metal wall. Community Spirit Amidst Challenges Within a local community centre, workers emphasise that need does not recognise addresses. “Where you live doesn’t necessarily indicate your personal struggles,” explained director a community leader. Despite being placed in the lowest 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, Nunsthorpe retains a fierce loyalty and sense of community among its residents. Meanwhile, Scartho is classified among the least deprived 10% nationally. A Similar Story: Stanhope in Ashford This pattern is mirrored across the country. The Stanhope estate in Kent, a 1960s housing development, is in the 10% most deprived of neighbourhoods in England. It is immediately adjacent by spacious houses built in the early 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 Phil Hockley, aged 63. “You’ll probably find a lot of people over there never even talk to each other.” The economic divide is clear: an average three-bedroom house costs about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while across the divide comparable homes go for about £410,000. Locals speak of a tangible feeling of being overlooked. “This part of the community gets ignored,” stated holistic health worker Susan Riley-Nevers. “In this area our amenities have gradually disappeared, and the majority of the issues we face here are related to financial hardship.” The rise in these ‘inequality borders’ paints a portrait of an increasingly divided England, where prosperity and deprivation are frequently uncomfortably close neighbours.
Within Nunsthorpe, residents live in properties just several yards from their more affluent counterparts in nearby Scartho village. One six-foot-tall wall literally divides the two areas 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 has been there since I’ve known. I don’t think they’ll bring it down because I don’t think they’ll want to associate with us.” A Stark National Picture Data from government statistics shows the extent of disparity often exists, sometimes across nothing more than a few metres of asphalt, a line of hedges or a wall. Decades of budget cuts and lack of funding mean a majority of local authorities now have a neighbourhood classified as one of the most deprived in the country. The geographical widening of poverty has coincided with a significant increase in the number of locations where disadvantaged and affluent residents end up living side by side. In 2019, only 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods bordered one of the wealthiest. This number rose to 119 in the latest data. A Barrier Which Does More Than Separate Space At this Lincolnshire site, the divide is the biggest in the UK and starkly obvious. The barrier is much more than a symbolic divide; it causes tangible problems for daily routines. School runs that ought to take a quarter of an hour become an sixty-minute journey. Reaching important amenities like grocery stores, educational facilities and employment centres is made more difficult. The site can attract antisocial behaviour, with reports of litter being dumped over the wall and related problems. “People strive to maintain a nice house and nice garden, and then you reside facing that,” said one resident, motioning at the rusted metal wall. Community Spirit Amidst Challenges Within a local community centre, workers emphasise that need does not recognise addresses. “Where you live doesn’t necessarily indicate your personal struggles,” explained director a community leader. Despite being placed in the lowest 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, Nunsthorpe retains a fierce loyalty and sense of community among its residents. Meanwhile, Scartho is classified among the least deprived 10% nationally. A Similar Story: Stanhope in Ashford This pattern is mirrored across the country. The Stanhope estate in Kent, a 1960s housing development, is in the 10% most deprived of neighbourhoods in England. It is immediately adjacent by spacious houses built in the early 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 Phil Hockley, aged 63. “You’ll probably find a lot of people over there never even talk to each other.” The economic divide is clear: an average three-bedroom house costs about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while across the divide comparable homes go for about £410,000. Locals speak of a tangible feeling of being overlooked. “This part of the community gets ignored,” stated holistic health worker Susan Riley-Nevers. “In this area our amenities have gradually disappeared, and the majority of the issues we face here are related to financial hardship.” The rise in these ‘inequality borders’ paints a portrait of an increasingly divided England, where prosperity and deprivation are frequently uncomfortably close neighbours.