A Rising ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: The Way Affluence and Hardship Now Sit Cheek by Jowl in Across England.
Within Nunsthorpe, inhabitants occupy properties just a few metres from their more affluent counterparts in nearby Scartho. One 1.8-metre-high wall physically divides the two communities in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, sealing off roads and walkways that once connected them.
“It’s the divide between rich and poor,” said Serenity Colley, aged 37. “It has been there since I’ve known. I doubt they’ll bring it down because I suspect they’ll want to associate with us.”
A Stark National Picture
Analysis of government figures shows how deep inequality often exists, at times across nothing more than a short distance of tarmac, a line of hedges or a barrier. Years of budget cuts and underinvestment mean a majority of local authorities now contain a neighbourhood ranking as one of the most deprived in the country.
The geographical widening of poverty has led to a sharp increase in the quantity of locations where disadvantaged and well-off residents end up as immediate neighbours. In 2019, only 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods bordered one of the wealthiest. This number rose to 119 in the latest data.
A Wall That Divides More Than Space
At this Lincolnshire site, the divide is the biggest in the country and painfully apparent. The wall transcends being just a symbolic division; it causes very real difficulties for daily routines.
- School runs that should take a quarter of an hour become an sixty-minute journey.
- Reaching important services like grocery stores, educational facilities and employment centres is hindered.
- The site often sees antisocial behaviour, with reports of litter being thrown over the wall and related issues.
“You try to maintain a nice house and nice garden, and then you reside facing that,” noted one resident, motioning at the corroded barricade.
Local Bonds Against a Backdrop of Hardship
Within a local community centre, workers emphasise that support transcends addresses. “Your postcode is not a reliable indicator of your level of challenge,” said director Tracey Good.
Despite ranking in the lowest 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, the estate boasts a fierce loyalty and sense of community among its inhabitants. By contrast, Scartho ranks among the most prosperous 10% overall.
Echoes Elsewhere: Stanhope in Ashford
This pattern is repeated across the country. The Stanhope estate 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 early 2000s that are in the top 10% for employment and quality of surroundings.
“They might have bigger houses, but here there’s more community,” commented Phil Hockley, aged 63. “You’ll probably find a lot of people over there never even talk to each other.”
The financial divide is clear: an typical family home sells for about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while on the other side comparable homes fetch about £410,000.
Locals describe a tangible sense of neglect. “Our neighbourhood is neglected,” stated resident Susan Riley-Nevers. “Over here our facilities have gradually disappeared, and most of the issues we face here are to do with financial hardship.”
The rise in these ‘inequality borders’ presents a portrait of an ever more divided England, where prosperity and need are often uncomfortably in close proximity.
