A Growing ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: How Prosperity and Deprivation Are Found Cheek by Jowl in England.

Within Nunsthorpe, inhabitants live in properties just a few metres from their more affluent counterparts in the adjacent Scartho. A six-foot-tall wall physically divides the two areas in the town of Grimsby, blocking off roads and walkways that previously connected them.

“It’s the posh-poor divide,” said a resident, 37. “It’s been like this for as long as I’ve known. I doubt they’ll take it down because I suspect they’ll want to associate with us.”

An Increasingly Common National Picture

Analysis of official statistics shows how deep inequality can run, sometimes across little more than a few metres of tarmac, a line of hedges or a wall. Years of budget cuts and lack of funding have led to a situation where a majority of local authorities now have a neighbourhood ranking as one of the poorest in the nation.

This spread of poverty has coincided with a sharp increase in the number of locations where deprived and affluent residents end up living side by side. In 2019, just 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods bordered one of the wealthiest. This number rose to 119 in the latest data.

A Barrier Which Does More Than Separate Land

At this Lincolnshire site, the divide is the most pronounced in the country and starkly apparent. The barrier is much more than a symbolic divide; it causes very real difficulties for everyday life.

• The school commute that should take 15-20 minutes turn into an sixty-minute journey.
• Access to important services like supermarkets, educational facilities and employment centres is hindered.
• The area often sees antisocial behaviour, with instances of rubbish being thrown over the wall and other problems.

“People strive to maintain a well-kept home and garden, and then you live opposite that,” noted one local, gesturing towards the rusted metal wall.

Community Spirit Amidst Challenges

Within a local community centre, workers stress that need transcends postcodes. “Your postcode doesn’t necessarily indicate your level of challenge,” explained chief executive a community leader.

Regardless of being placed in the most deprived 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, the estate boasts a strong sense and feeling of community among its residents. Meanwhile, Scartho is classified among the least deprived 10% overall.

Echoes Elsewhere: An Estate in Kent

This pattern is repeated across the country. The Stanhope estate in Ashford, Kent, a mid-century overspill estate, is in the 10% most deprived of areas in England. It is immediately adjacent by large houses built in the 2000s that sit in the top 10% for job prospects and living environment.

“They may possess larger properties, but here there’s a stronger community,” commented a long-term resident, aged 63. “It’s likely a lot of people in the new builds never even talk to each other.”

The economic divide is clear: an average family home costs about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while across the divide comparable homes go for about £410,000.

Residents describe a palpable sense of neglect. “This part of the community is neglected,” said resident Susan. “In this area our facilities have slowly been taken away, and the majority of the community problems here are to do with poverty.”

The rise in these ‘inequality borders’ presents a picture of an ever more divided society, where wealth and need are often uncomfortably in close proximity.