A Growing ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: How Affluence and Deprivation Are Found Side by Side in Across England.

Within Nunsthorpe, inhabitants live in homes just several yards from their wealthier neighbours in nearby Scartho village. A 1.8-metre-high barricade physically divides the two communities in the town of Grimsby, blocking off roads and walkways that once linked them.

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

An Increasingly Common National Picture

Data from government figures shows the extent of inequality often exists, sometimes across little more than a few metres of tarmac, a hedge row or a wall. Years of budget cuts and lack of funding have led to a situation where a majority of local authorities now contain a locality classified as one of the most deprived in the nation.

This geographical widening of poverty has led to a significant increase in the number of locations where deprived and well-off people find themselves living side by side. Just a few years ago, only 65 of the most deprived areas bordered one of the least deprived. That figure rose to 119 in the latest data.

A Barrier Which Divides More Than Land

In Grimsby, the gap is the most pronounced in the country and starkly apparent. The barrier transcends being just a symbolic division; it creates tangible problems for everyday life.

• School runs that should take a quarter of an hour turn into an sixty-minute detour.
• Reaching important services like grocery stores, educational facilities and care homes is hindered.
• The area can attract vandalism and loitering, with reports of rubbish being thrown over the wall and related problems.

“People strive to maintain a nice house and nice garden, and then you live opposite that,” said one local, motioning at the rusted metal wall.

Local Bonds Against a Backdrop of Hardship

Within Centre4, workers stress that support does not recognise addresses. “Your postcode doesn’t necessarily indicate your personal struggles,” said director a community leader.

Despite being placed in the lowest 10% for multiple deprivation indicators, the estate retains a strong sense and feeling of community among its residents. By contrast, the neighbouring area ranks among the most prosperous 10% overall.

A Similar Story: Stanhope in Ashford

This pattern is repeated across the country. The Stanhope area in Ashford, Kent, a 1960s housing development, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of areas in the country. It is immediately adjacent by large detached homes built in the early 2000s that are in the wealthiest tenth for employment and quality of surroundings.

“They might have larger properties, but here there’s a stronger community,” said a long-term resident, aged 63. “It’s likely many people in the new builds don’t even speak to each other.”

The financial divide is clear: an typical family home sells for about £275,000 on the Stanhope 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 gets ignored,” stated holistic health worker Susan Riley-Nevers. “In this area our facilities have slowly been taken away, and the majority of the community problems here are related to financial hardship.”

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