A Rising ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: How Affluence and Hardship Now Sit Cheek by Jowl in Across England.

In Nunsthorpe, residents occupy homes only a few metres from their wealthier counterparts in nearby Scartho village. A 1.8-metre-high wall physically separates the two areas in the town of Grimsby, sealing off roads and walkways that previously linked them.

“It’s the divide between rich and poor,” remarked a resident, aged 37. “It has been there for as long as I’ve known. I doubt they’ll bring it down because I don’t think they’ll want to mix with us.”

An Increasingly Common National Picture

Data from official statistics reveals the extent of inequality often exists, at times across little more than a short distance of asphalt, a hedge row or a barrier. Decades of austerity and lack of funding have led to a situation where almost two-thirds of local authorities now contain a locality classified as one of the poorest in the country.

The spread of deprivation has coincided with a sharp increase in the number of locations where disadvantaged and affluent people end up as immediate neighbours. Just a few years ago, just 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods bordered one of the wealthiest. That figure rose to 119 in the most recent data.

A Barrier Which Divides More Than Land

At this Lincolnshire site, the divide is the most pronounced in the country and painfully apparent. The wall is much more than a metaphorical 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.
• Reaching important amenities like grocery stores, educational facilities and employment centres is made more difficult.
• The site often sees antisocial behaviour, with instances of litter being thrown over the wall and related problems.

“People strive to maintain a nice house and nice garden, and then you reside facing that,” noted one local, gesturing towards the corroded barricade.

Local Bonds Against a Backdrop of Challenges

At Centre4, workers stress that need transcends postcodes. “Your postcode is not a reliable indicator of your personal struggles,” said director Tracey Good.

Regardless of ranking in the most deprived 10% for multiple deprivation indicators, Nunsthorpe retains a fierce loyalty and feeling of togetherness among its inhabitants. By contrast, the neighbouring area ranks among the most prosperous 10% overall.

A Similar Story: An Estate in Kent

This phenomenon is mirrored nationally. The Stanhope area in Kent, a mid-century overspill estate, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of neighbourhoods in England. It is closely bordered by large detached homes built in the early 2000s that sit in the wealthiest tenth for employment and quality of surroundings.

“They might have bigger houses, but here there’s more community,” commented a long-term resident, 63. “You’ll probably find a lot of people in the new builds don’t even speak to each other.”

The economic divide is evident: an typical family home sells for about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while across the divide comparable homes fetch about £410,000.

Locals speak of a tangible feeling of being overlooked. “Our neighbourhood gets ignored,” said resident Susan. “Over here our facilities have slowly been taken away, and the majority of the community problems here are related to poverty.”

The increase in these ‘deprivation divides’ presents a picture of an ever more segregated England, where prosperity and need are often uncomfortably close neighbours.