The Growing ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: The Way Prosperity and Hardship Are Found Cheek by Jowl in England.

Within a postwar estate known as ‘The Nunny’, inhabitants occupy homes just a few metres from their wealthier counterparts in the adjacent Scartho village. One 1.8-metre-high barricade physically separates the two communities in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, blocking off roads and walkways that once connected them.

“This is the posh-poor divide,” remarked Serenity Colley, 37. “It has been there for as long as I’ve known. I doubt they’ll bring it down because I suspect they’ll want to associate with us.”

An Increasingly Common Pattern Across the Country

Data from official figures shows the extent of inequality can run, at times over little more than a short distance of asphalt, a hedge row or a wall. Decades of budget cuts and underinvestment mean a majority of local authorities now have a neighbourhood classified as one of the poorest in the country.

This spread of poverty has led to a significant increase in the quantity of locations where deprived and affluent residents find themselves living side by side. In 2019, just 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods bordered one of the least deprived. This number rose to 119 in the most recent data.

A Barrier Which Divides More Than Land

At this Lincolnshire site, the gap is the biggest in the country and starkly apparent. The barrier is much more than a symbolic division; it creates very real difficulties for everyday life.

• The school commute that should take a quarter of an hour become an sixty-minute detour.
• Access to important services like supermarkets, schools and care homes is made more difficult.
• The site often sees vandalism and loitering, with instances of rubbish being thrown over the wall and related problems.

“People strive to maintain a nice house and nice garden, and then you reside facing that,” said one local, gesturing towards the corroded barricade.

Local Bonds Amidst Hardship

Within a local community centre, staff emphasise that support transcends addresses. “Where you live doesn’t necessarily indicate your level of challenge,” explained director a community leader.

Regardless of being placed in the lowest 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, Nunsthorpe boasts a strong sense and feeling of community among its inhabitants. By contrast, the neighbouring area ranks among the least deprived 10% overall.

A Similar Story: An Estate in Kent

This phenomenon is mirrored across the country. The Stanhope estate in Kent, a 1960s housing development, is in the 10% most deprived of areas in England. It is immediately adjacent by spacious detached homes built in the 2000s that are in the top 10% for job prospects and quality of surroundings.

“They might have larger properties, but here there’s more community,” commented a long-term resident, aged 63. “You’ll probably find many people in the new builds don’t even speak to each other.”

The economic divide is evident: an average family home costs about £275,000 on the estate, while across the divide comparable properties fetch about £410,000.

Locals describe a palpable feeling of being overlooked. “This part of the community is neglected,” said resident Susan Riley-Nevers. “Over here our facilities have slowly been taken away, and most of the community problems here are to do with financial hardship.”

The increase in these ‘inequality borders’ presents a picture of an ever more segregated society, where wealth and need are frequently uncomfortably close neighbours.