The Growing ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: The Way Prosperity and Deprivation Now Sit Cheek by Jowl in England.

In Nunsthorpe, residents occupy properties only several yards from their wealthier neighbours in nearby Scartho. A 1.8-metre-high barricade physically divides the two communities in the town of Grimsby, sealing off roads and walkways that previously connected them.

“It’s the posh-poor divide,” said Serenity Colley, 37. “It has been there since I’ve known. I don’t think they’ll take it down because I suspect they’ll want to associate with us.”

An Increasingly Common National Picture

Data from government figures reveals how deep inequality often exists, at times over little more than a short distance of asphalt, a line of hedges or a barrier. Years of budget cuts and underinvestment have led to a situation where almost two-thirds of local authorities now contain a locality classified as one of the most deprived in the country.

This geographical widening of deprivation has coincided with a significant increase in the quantity of places where deprived and affluent people end up as immediate neighbours. In 2019, only 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods adjoined one of the least deprived. This number increased to 119 in the most recent data.

A Wall That Does More Than Separate Land

At this Lincolnshire site, the gap is the most pronounced in the country and starkly obvious. The wall transcends being just a metaphorical division; it creates very real difficulties for everyday life.

• The school commute that should take a quarter of an hour turn into an sixty-minute detour.
• Access to important amenities like grocery stores, educational facilities and employment centres is hindered.
• The site can attract vandalism and loitering, with reports of rubbish being thrown over the wall and related problems.

“You try to maintain a nice house and nice garden, and then you reside facing that,” said one resident, gesturing towards the corroded metal wall.

Community Spirit Against a Backdrop of Hardship

Within a local community centre, staff stress that need transcends postcodes. “Where you live doesn’t necessarily indicate your personal struggles,” said director a community leader.

Regardless of ranking in the lowest 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, the estate boasts a strong sense and feeling of community among its inhabitants. By contrast, the neighbouring area is classified among the least deprived 10% nationally.

Echoes Elsewhere: An Estate in Kent

This phenomenon is mirrored across the country. The Stanhope estate in Kent, a mid-century overspill estate, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of neighbourhoods in England. It is immediately adjacent by large houses 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 more community,” commented a long-term resident, aged 63. “You’ll probably find many people over there don’t even speak 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 equivalent homes go for about £410,000.

Residents describe a palpable feeling of being overlooked. “Our neighbourhood is neglected,” said holistic health worker Susan Riley-Nevers. “In this area our facilities have slowly been taken away, and most of the issues we face here are to do with poverty.”

The increase in these ‘inequality borders’ paints a portrait of an increasingly divided society, where prosperity and need are often awkwardly close neighbours.