The Rising ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: How Prosperity and Deprivation Are Found Cheek by Jowl in England.

Within a postwar estate known as ‘The Nunny’, residents occupy properties just a few metres from their wealthier neighbours in the adjacent Scartho. One 1.8-metre-high barricade literally separates the two areas in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, sealing off paths and streets that previously connected them.

“This is the posh-poor divide,” said a resident, 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 associate with us.”

A Stark Pattern Across the Country

Analysis of official figures reveals how deep disparity often exists, sometimes across nothing more than a short distance of asphalt, a hedge row or a wall. Years of budget cuts and lack of funding mean almost two-thirds of councils now contain a locality classified as one of the poorest in the country.

The spread of deprivation has led to a sharp increase in the number of places where deprived and affluent people end up as immediate neighbours. In 2019, only 65 of the poorest areas bordered one of the least deprived. This number increased to 119 in the most recent data.

A Barrier Which Does More Than Separate Land

In Grimsby, the gap is the biggest in the country and starkly apparent. The wall transcends being just a symbolic division; it creates very real difficulties for everyday life.

• School runs that should take a quarter of an hour turn into an hour-long detour.
• Access to important services like supermarkets, educational facilities and employment centres is made more difficult.
• The area often sees vandalism and loitering, with instances of rubbish being dumped over the wall and other issues.

“People strive to have a nice house and nice garden, and then you live opposite that,” noted one local, gesturing towards the corroded metal wall.

Local Bonds Against a Backdrop of Challenges

Within a local community centre, staff emphasise that need does not recognise addresses. “Your postcode is not a reliable indicator of your level of challenge,” explained chief executive Tracey Good.

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

A Similar Story: Stanhope in Ashford

This pattern is mirrored nationally. The Stanhope area in Kent, a 1960s overspill estate, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of areas in the country. It is closely bordered by spacious detached homes built in the early 2000s that are in the top 10% for job prospects and living environment.

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

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

Locals speak of a palpable feeling of neglect. “Our neighbourhood gets ignored,” said resident Susan Riley-Nevers. “In this area our amenities have gradually disappeared, and most of the community problems here are to do with poverty.”

The rise in these ‘deprivation divides’ presents a portrait of an increasingly segregated England, where prosperity and deprivation are frequently uncomfortably close neighbours.