The Rising ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: How Affluence and Deprivation Are Found Cheek by Jowl in England.

In a postwar estate known as ‘The Nunny’, inhabitants occupy homes just a few metres from their more affluent counterparts in the adjacent Scartho. One 1.8-metre-high barricade literally divides the two communities in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, blocking off paths and streets that once linked them.

“It’s the divide between rich and poor,” said Serenity Colley, 37. “It’s been like this 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.”

An Increasingly Common National Picture

Data from official figures shows the extent of disparity can run, sometimes over nothing more than a short distance of tarmac, a line of hedges or a wall. Decades of budget cuts and lack of funding have led to a situation where a majority of councils now have a neighbourhood ranking as one of the poorest in the country.

This spread of poverty has led to a sharp increase in the number of locations where disadvantaged and affluent people end up living side by side. In 2019, only 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods bordered one of the least deprived. That figure increased to 119 in the most recent data.

A Barrier Which Divides More Than Land

At this Lincolnshire site, the gap is the most pronounced in the UK and starkly apparent. The wall transcends being just a symbolic division; it creates tangible problems for everyday life.

• The school commute that ought to take a quarter of an hour become an sixty-minute detour.
• Access to important amenities like supermarkets, educational facilities and employment centres is hindered.
• The area can attract vandalism and loitering, with reports of rubbish being thrown over the wall and other problems.

“People strive to have a nice house and nice garden, and then you reside facing that,” said one local, motioning at the corroded metal wall.

Local Bonds Amidst Challenges

Within a local community centre, staff stress that support transcends postcodes. “Where you live doesn’t necessarily indicate your level of challenge,” explained chief executive a community leader.

Despite being placed in the lowest 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, Nunsthorpe retains a fierce loyalty and feeling of community among its inhabitants. By contrast, Scartho ranks among the most prosperous 10% overall.

Echoes Elsewhere: An Estate in Kent

This pattern is repeated across the country. The Stanhope estate in Kent, a 1960s housing development, is in the 10% most deprived of areas in England. It is closely bordered by spacious houses built in the early 2000s that sit in the top 10% for job prospects and quality of surroundings.

“They may possess larger properties, but here there’s a stronger community,” commented a long-term resident, aged 63. “You’ll probably find a lot of people over there don’t even speak to each other.”

The economic gap is clear: an typical three-bedroom house sells for about £275,000 on the estate, while across the divide comparable homes fetch about £410,000.

Locals describe a tangible sense of being overlooked. “Our neighbourhood is neglected,” stated resident Susan Riley-Nevers. “In this area our amenities have slowly been taken away, and most of the community problems here are to do with financial hardship.”

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