A Growing ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: The Way Affluence and Hardship Now Sit Side by Side in Across England.
In Nunsthorpe, inhabitants occupy properties just a few metres from their more affluent counterparts in the adjacent Scartho. One six-foot-tall barricade literally divides the two areas in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, blocking off paths and streets that once connected them.
“This is the divide between rich and poor,” said 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 Pattern Across the Country
Analysis of official figures shows how deep disparity can run, sometimes across nothing more than a few metres of asphalt, a hedge row or a barrier. Years of austerity and lack of funding have led to a situation where almost two-thirds of councils now have a locality classified as one of the most deprived in the country.
The geographical widening of deprivation has led to a sharp rise in the number of locations where disadvantaged and affluent residents end up living side by side. Just a few years ago, just 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods bordered one of the wealthiest. That figure rose to 119 in the latest data.
A Barrier Which Does More Than Separate Space
At this Lincolnshire site, the gap is the most pronounced in the UK and painfully apparent. The wall is much more than a symbolic divide; it creates tangible difficulties for daily routines.
- School runs that ought to take a quarter of an hour become an sixty-minute journey.
- Reaching key amenities like grocery stores, educational facilities and employment centres is hindered.
- The area can attract vandalism and loitering, with reports of rubbish being thrown over the wall and other issues.
“You try to have a nice house and nice garden, and then you live opposite that,” noted one resident, motioning at the rusted barricade.
Local Bonds Against a Backdrop of Challenges
Within Centre4, staff emphasise that support transcends addresses. “Where you live is not a reliable indicator of your level of challenge,” said director Tracey Good.
Regardless of being placed in the lowest 10% for multiple deprivation indicators, the estate retains a fierce loyalty and feeling of togetherness among its inhabitants. By contrast, Scartho ranks among the most prosperous 10% nationally.
A Similar Story: An Estate in Kent
This pattern is repeated nationally. The Stanhope area in Ashford, Kent, a 1960s overspill estate, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of neighbourhoods in England. It is closely bordered by spacious houses built in the early 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 Phil Hockley, 63. “It’s likely a lot of people over there never even talk to each other.”
The economic divide is evident: an average family home costs about £275,000 on the estate, while across the divide comparable homes go for about £410,000.
Locals describe a tangible sense of being overlooked. “Our neighbourhood is neglected,” said holistic health worker Susan Riley-Nevers. “Over here our amenities have gradually disappeared, and most of the community problems here are to do with financial hardship.”
The increase in these ‘inequality borders’ presents a picture of an ever more divided society, where prosperity and deprivation are often awkwardly in close proximity.
