The Growing ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: The Way Prosperity and Hardship Now Sit Cheek by Jowl in England.

Within Nunsthorpe, residents occupy properties only a few metres from their more affluent counterparts in nearby Scartho village. A six-foot-tall barricade literally separates the two areas in the town of Grimsby, sealing off paths and streets that once connected them.

“This is the divide between rich and poor,” said Serenity Colley, aged 37. “It’s been like this since I’ve known. I don’t think they’ll bring it down because I suspect they’ll want to mix with us.”

A Stark Pattern Across the Country

Analysis of government figures shows the extent of inequality often exists, at times over little more than a few metres of tarmac, a hedge row or a wall. Decades of budget cuts and lack of funding have led to a situation where a majority of local authorities now contain a locality ranking as one of the most deprived in the country.

The spread of deprivation has coincided with a sharp rise in the quantity of places where disadvantaged and well-off people end up as immediate neighbours. Just a few years ago, just 65 of the poorest neighbourhoods adjoined one of the wealthiest. This number increased to 119 in the latest data.

A Barrier Which Does More Than Separate Space

In Grimsby, the gap is the biggest in the country and painfully obvious. The barrier is much more than a symbolic divide; it creates very real difficulties for daily routines.

• School runs that ought to take a quarter of an hour turn into an hour-long journey.
• Access to key amenities like grocery stores, educational facilities and employment centres is made more difficult.
• The site can attract vandalism and loitering, with instances of litter being thrown over the wall and other problems.

“People strive to have a well-kept home and garden, and then you live opposite that,” noted one resident, gesturing towards the corroded barricade.

Local Bonds Amidst Hardship

At a local community centre, staff stress that support does not recognise postcodes. “Your postcode is not a reliable indicator of your personal struggles,” explained director a community leader.

Despite ranking in the lowest 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, Nunsthorpe boasts a fierce loyalty and feeling of community among its residents. By contrast, Scartho is classified among the least deprived 10% nationally.

Echoes Elsewhere: 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 England. It is immediately adjacent by large detached homes built in the 2000s that sit in the wealthiest tenth for job prospects and quality of surroundings.

“They might have larger properties, but here there’s more community,” commented a long-term resident, 63. “It’s likely many people in the new builds 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 equivalent properties go for about £410,000.

Residents describe a tangible sense of neglect. “Our neighbourhood is neglected,” said holistic health worker Susan Riley-Nevers. “In this area our amenities have gradually disappeared, and most of the issues we face here are related to poverty.”

The rise in these ‘deprivation divides’ paints a portrait of an increasingly segregated England, where wealth and deprivation are often awkwardly in close proximity.