The Rising ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: The Way Prosperity and Hardship Are Found Cheek by Jowl in Across England.
In a postwar estate known as ‘The Nunny’, inhabitants occupy homes only several yards from their more affluent neighbours in the adjacent Scartho village. One 1.8-metre-high wall literally divides the two areas in the town of Grimsby, blocking off paths and streets that previously linked them.
“This is the divide between rich and poor,” remarked Serenity Colley, aged 37. “It has been there since I’ve known. I don’t think they’ll bring it down because I don’t think they’ll want to associate with us.”
A Stark National Picture
Analysis of official statistics shows the extent of inequality often exists, at times over nothing more than a short distance of tarmac, a line of hedges or a barrier. Decades of budget cuts and underinvestment have led to a situation where a majority of councils now have a neighbourhood ranking as one of the most deprived in the country.
This spread of deprivation has coincided with a sharp increase in the number of locations where disadvantaged and well-off people find themselves as immediate neighbours. In 2019, just 65 of the most deprived areas bordered one of the least deprived. That figure rose to 119 in the latest data.
A Barrier Which Does More Than Separate Space
At this Lincolnshire site, the divide is the biggest in the country and painfully apparent. The wall is much more than a symbolic division; it causes very real difficulties for daily routines.
- School runs that should take a quarter of an hour turn into an sixty-minute detour.
- Access to key amenities like supermarkets, educational facilities and care homes is hindered.
- The area can attract antisocial behaviour, with reports of litter being thrown over the wall and other problems.
“People strive to have a nice house and nice garden, and then you live opposite that,” said one local, gesturing towards the corroded barricade.
Community Spirit Amidst Challenges
Within Centre4, workers stress that support transcends addresses. “Your postcode is not a reliable indicator of your level of challenge,” explained chief executive a community leader.
Despite being placed in the most deprived 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, the estate boasts a fierce loyalty and sense of community among its residents. By contrast, Scartho ranks among the most prosperous 10% nationally.
A Similar Story: Stanhope in Ashford
This pattern is mirrored across the country. The Stanhope estate in Ashford, Kent, a mid-century overspill estate, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of neighbourhoods in England. It is immediately adjacent by spacious detached homes built in the 2000s that sit in the top 10% for employment and living environment.
“They might have bigger houses, but here there’s a stronger community,” said Phil Hockley, aged 63. “You’ll probably find many people in the new builds don’t even speak to each other.”
The economic divide is evident: an average family home sells for about £275,000 on the estate, while on the other side equivalent properties go for about £410,000.
Residents describe a tangible sense of being overlooked. “Our neighbourhood gets ignored,” stated holistic health worker 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 rise in these ‘inequality borders’ presents a picture of an ever more segregated society, where wealth and need are often uncomfortably close neighbours.