A Rising ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: How Prosperity and Hardship Now Sit Cheek by Jowl in Across England.

Within Nunsthorpe, inhabitants live in homes only several yards from their more affluent counterparts in nearby Scartho. A six-foot-tall wall literally separates the two communities in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, sealing off roads and walkways that once linked them.

“This is the divide between rich and poor,” said Serenity Colley, 37. “It’s been like this for as long as I’ve known. I don’t think they’ll bring it down because I suspect they’ll want to mix with us.”

A Stark Pattern Across the Country

Data from government statistics shows how deep inequality can run, sometimes over nothing more than a short distance of asphalt, a hedge row or a barrier. Years of budget cuts and lack of funding have led to a situation where a majority of local authorities now contain a neighbourhood ranking as one of the most deprived in the nation.

This geographical widening of poverty has led to a significant rise in the number of locations where deprived and affluent people find themselves as immediate neighbours. Just a few years ago, only 65 of the poorest neighbourhoods adjoined one of the wealthiest. This number rose to 119 in the latest data.

A Barrier Which Divides More Than Land

At this Lincolnshire site, the divide is the biggest in the country and starkly apparent. The wall is much more than a metaphorical division; it causes very real difficulties for everyday life.

• School runs that should take 15-20 minutes turn into an sixty-minute detour.
• Access to important services like supermarkets, educational facilities and employment centres is made more difficult.
• The site can attract antisocial behaviour, with instances of litter being dumped over the wall and other problems.

“You try to maintain a well-kept home and garden, and then you live opposite that,” said one local, motioning at the rusted barricade.

Local Bonds Amidst Hardship

At a local community centre, workers stress that support does not recognise addresses. “Your postcode doesn’t necessarily indicate your level of challenge,” said chief executive Tracey Good.

Regardless of ranking in the lowest 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, the estate boasts a fierce loyalty and feeling of community among its residents. By contrast, Scartho ranks among the least deprived 10% nationally.

A Similar Story: An Estate in Kent

This pattern is mirrored across the country. The Stanhope estate in Kent, a 1960s overspill estate, is in the 10% most deprived of neighbourhoods in England. It is closely bordered by spacious detached homes built in the 2000s that are in the wealthiest tenth for employment and quality of surroundings.

“They may possess bigger houses, but here there’s more community,” said Phil Hockley, aged 63. “It’s likely many people in the new builds don’t even speak to each other.”

The economic divide is evident: an typical three-bedroom house costs about £275,000 on the estate, while across the divide comparable homes go for about £410,000.

Residents speak of a tangible feeling of being overlooked. “Our neighbourhood gets ignored,” stated resident Susan. “Over here our facilities have gradually disappeared, and the majority of the issues we face here are to do with poverty.”

The rise in these ‘deprivation divides’ paints a picture of an increasingly segregated society, where wealth and deprivation are frequently awkwardly close neighbours.