A Growing ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: How Affluence and Deprivation Are Found Side by Side in England.

Within a postwar estate known as ‘The Nunny’, inhabitants occupy properties only several yards from their wealthier counterparts in the adjacent Scartho. One 1.8-metre-high wall literally separates the two areas in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, blocking off paths and streets that previously linked them.

“This is the posh-poor divide,” said Serenity Colley, 37. “It’s been like this since I’ve known. I doubt they’ll take it down because I don’t think they’ll want to mix with us.”

A Stark Pattern Across the Country

Data from official statistics shows how deep inequality can run, at times over nothing more than a few metres of asphalt, a line of hedges or a barrier. Decades of budget cuts and lack of funding mean a majority of local authorities now have a neighbourhood ranking as one of the poorest in the nation.

This geographical widening of poverty has led to a significant rise in the quantity of locations where deprived and well-off residents find themselves as immediate neighbours. In 2019, just 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods adjoined one of the least deprived. That figure rose to 119 in the latest data.

A Wall That Does More Than Separate Space

At this Lincolnshire site, the divide is the most pronounced in the UK and painfully obvious. The wall transcends being just a symbolic divide; it creates tangible problems for everyday life.

• School runs that ought to take a quarter of an hour turn into an hour-long journey.
• Reaching important amenities like grocery stores, educational facilities and employment centres is hindered.
• The area can attract antisocial behaviour, with instances of rubbish being dumped over the wall and other issues.

“You try to have a well-kept home and garden, and then you live opposite that,” said one local, motioning at the rusted metal wall.

Local Bonds Amidst Hardship

Within a local community centre, workers stress that need does not recognise addresses. “Your postcode doesn’t necessarily indicate your personal struggles,” said director Tracey Good.

Regardless of ranking in the most deprived 10% for multiple deprivation indicators, Nunsthorpe boasts a fierce loyalty and sense of togetherness among its inhabitants. By contrast, the neighbouring area ranks among the most prosperous 10% nationally.

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 10% most deprived of neighbourhoods in England. It is immediately adjacent by spacious houses built in the early 2000s that are in the wealthiest tenth for job prospects and living environment.

“They may possess bigger houses, but here there’s a stronger community,” commented Phil Hockley, 63. “You’ll probably find many people over there never even talk to each other.”

The financial divide is evident: an average family home sells for about £275,000 on the estate, while on the other side comparable homes fetch about £410,000.

Locals speak of a tangible feeling of being overlooked. “This part of the community gets ignored,” 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 increase in these ‘deprivation divides’ presents a portrait of an increasingly divided England, where prosperity and deprivation are often awkwardly in close proximity.