The Growing ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: The Way Prosperity and Deprivation Now Sit Cheek by Jowl in Across England.
Within Nunsthorpe, residents live in properties only several yards from their wealthier neighbours in the adjacent Scartho. A 1.8-metre-high wall literally separates the two areas in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, sealing off roads and walkways that once connected them.
“It’s the posh-poor divide,” said a resident, aged 37. “It has been there for as long as I’ve known. I doubt they’ll take it down because I suspect they’ll want to associate with us.”
A Stark National Picture
Analysis of government statistics reveals the extent of inequality can run, sometimes over nothing more than a short distance of tarmac, a line of hedges or a barrier. Years of austerity and underinvestment mean almost two-thirds of local authorities now have a neighbourhood ranking as one of the most deprived in the nation.
The spread of deprivation has coincided with a sharp rise in the number of locations where disadvantaged and affluent people end up living side by side. Just a few years ago, just 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods bordered one of the wealthiest. This number increased to 119 in the most recent data.
A Wall That Divides More Than Land
At this Lincolnshire site, the gap is the most pronounced in the UK and starkly apparent. The barrier transcends being just a metaphorical division; it creates very real difficulties for everyday life.
- School runs that ought to take 15-20 minutes become an sixty-minute detour.
- Reaching key services like grocery stores, educational facilities and employment centres is hindered.
- The area can attract antisocial behaviour, with instances of litter being dumped over the wall and other issues.
“People strive to have a well-kept home and garden, and then you reside facing that,” said one local, gesturing towards the rusted barricade.
Local Bonds Against a Backdrop of Hardship
Within a local community centre, workers emphasise that support transcends addresses. “Where you live is not a reliable indicator of your level of challenge,” explained director a community leader.
Despite ranking in the most deprived 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, the estate boasts a strong sense and sense of togetherness among its residents. By contrast, the neighbouring area is classified among the most prosperous 10% nationally.
A Similar Story: Stanhope in Ashford
This pattern is mirrored across the country. The Stanhope area in Kent, a 1960s overspill estate, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of areas 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 larger properties, but here there’s more community,” said a long-term resident, 63. “It’s likely many people in the new builds never even talk to each other.”
The financial gap is evident: an typical family home sells for about £275,000 on the estate, while across the divide equivalent properties go for about £410,000.
Locals speak of a palpable sense of being overlooked. “This part of the community is neglected,” said holistic health worker Susan Riley-Nevers. “Over here our amenities have slowly been taken away, and most of the issues we face here are to do with financial hardship.”
The rise in these ‘deprivation divides’ presents a picture of an increasingly segregated society, where wealth and deprivation are frequently uncomfortably in close proximity.
