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

Within Nunsthorpe, inhabitants occupy homes just a few metres from their more affluent counterparts in the adjacent Scartho. A 1.8-metre-high barricade physically divides the two areas in the town of Grimsby, sealing off paths and streets that previously linked them.

“This is the divide between rich and poor,” remarked Serenity Colley, 37. “It’s been like this for as long as I’ve known. I don’t think they’ll take it down because I don’t think 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 across little more than a short distance of tarmac, a hedge row or a wall. Decades of austerity and lack of funding have led to a situation where a majority of councils now contain a locality ranking as one of the most deprived in the nation.

The geographical widening of deprivation has coincided with a significant rise in the number of locations where disadvantaged and well-off people end up as immediate neighbours. In 2019, only 65 of the poorest neighbourhoods adjoined one of the wealthiest. This number rose to 119 in the most recent data.

A Barrier Which Does More Than Separate Space

In Grimsby, the divide is the most pronounced in the country and starkly obvious. The barrier is much more than a metaphorical divide; it causes tangible problems for everyday life.

• School runs that should take 15-20 minutes become an sixty-minute journey.
• Access to key amenities like supermarkets, schools and employment centres is hindered.
• The area can attract antisocial behaviour, with instances of litter being dumped over the wall and related issues.

“You try to maintain a nice house and nice garden, and then you live opposite that,” noted one local, motioning at the rusted barricade.

Community Spirit Amidst Hardship

At a local community centre, staff emphasise that need transcends postcodes. “Where you live doesn’t necessarily indicate your personal struggles,” explained chief executive Tracey Good.

Regardless of being placed in the most deprived 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, Nunsthorpe retains a fierce loyalty and feeling of togetherness among its inhabitants. By contrast, Scartho is classified among the most prosperous 10% overall.

Echoes Elsewhere: An Estate in Kent

This phenomenon is mirrored nationally. The Stanhope area in Kent, a 1960s overspill estate, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of neighbourhoods in England. It is immediately adjacent by spacious houses built in the 2000s that are in the wealthiest tenth for job prospects 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 over there don’t even speak to each other.”

The economic divide is evident: an typical three-bedroom house costs about £275,000 on the estate, while on the other side equivalent properties fetch about £410,000.

Locals speak of a palpable sense of being overlooked. “Our neighbourhood gets ignored,” said resident Susan. “Over here our amenities have slowly been taken away, and the majority of the community problems here are to do with financial hardship.”

The rise in these ‘inequality borders’ presents a picture of an increasingly segregated society, where wealth and need are frequently uncomfortably close neighbours.