🔗 Share this article The Rising ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: How Prosperity and Deprivation Are Found Cheek by Jowl in Across England. In Nunsthorpe, inhabitants live in homes just several yards from their more affluent counterparts in nearby Scartho village. One six-foot-tall barricade literally divides the two areas in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, blocking off roads and walkways that previously linked them. “This is the divide between rich and poor,” said Serenity Colley, aged 37. “It has been there for as long as I’ve known. I don’t think they’ll bring it down because I don’t think they’ll want to mix with us.” An Increasingly Common National Picture Analysis of official figures shows how deep inequality can run, sometimes over nothing more than a few metres of asphalt, a line of hedges or a barrier. Years of austerity and lack of funding have led to a situation where a majority of local authorities now have a locality classified as one of the poorest in the country. This geographical widening of deprivation has coincided with a sharp rise in the quantity of places where disadvantaged and affluent residents find themselves as immediate neighbours. Just a few years ago, just 65 of the most deprived areas bordered one of the least deprived. This number increased to 119 in the latest data. A Barrier Which Divides More Than Space At this Lincolnshire site, the divide is the biggest in the country and painfully apparent. The wall transcends being just a metaphorical division; it creates tangible difficulties for everyday life. School runs that ought to take 15-20 minutes turn into an sixty-minute detour. Reaching key services like grocery stores, educational facilities and care homes is hindered. The area can attract antisocial behaviour, with instances of litter being dumped over the wall and other problems. “People strive to have a well-kept home and garden, and then you reside facing that,” said one local, motioning at the corroded barricade. Community Spirit Against a Backdrop of Hardship At a local community centre, staff stress that support does not recognise addresses. “Your postcode is not a reliable indicator of your level of challenge,” explained chief executive a community leader. Despite being placed in the lowest 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, the estate retains a strong sense and feeling of togetherness among its inhabitants. By contrast, the neighbouring area ranks among the most prosperous 10% nationally. Echoes Elsewhere: 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 areas 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, aged 63. “You’ll probably find a lot of people over there never even talk to each other.” The economic divide is evident: an typical three-bedroom house costs about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while across the divide comparable properties fetch about £410,000. Locals describe a palpable sense of neglect. “Our neighbourhood gets ignored,” stated holistic health worker Susan Riley-Nevers. “Over here our amenities have slowly been taken away, and the majority of the community problems here are related to poverty.” The rise in these ‘deprivation divides’ paints a portrait of an ever more segregated society, where prosperity and need are often uncomfortably close neighbours.
In Nunsthorpe, inhabitants live in homes just several yards from their more affluent counterparts in nearby Scartho village. One six-foot-tall barricade literally divides the two areas in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, blocking off roads and walkways that previously linked them. “This is the divide between rich and poor,” said Serenity Colley, aged 37. “It has been there for as long as I’ve known. I don’t think they’ll bring it down because I don’t think they’ll want to mix with us.” An Increasingly Common National Picture Analysis of official figures shows how deep inequality can run, sometimes over nothing more than a few metres of asphalt, a line of hedges or a barrier. Years of austerity and lack of funding have led to a situation where a majority of local authorities now have a locality classified as one of the poorest in the country. This geographical widening of deprivation has coincided with a sharp rise in the quantity of places where disadvantaged and affluent residents find themselves as immediate neighbours. Just a few years ago, just 65 of the most deprived areas bordered one of the least deprived. This number increased to 119 in the latest data. A Barrier Which Divides More Than Space At this Lincolnshire site, the divide is the biggest in the country and painfully apparent. The wall transcends being just a metaphorical division; it creates tangible difficulties for everyday life. School runs that ought to take 15-20 minutes turn into an sixty-minute detour. Reaching key services like grocery stores, educational facilities and care homes is hindered. The area can attract antisocial behaviour, with instances of litter being dumped over the wall and other problems. “People strive to have a well-kept home and garden, and then you reside facing that,” said one local, motioning at the corroded barricade. Community Spirit Against a Backdrop of Hardship At a local community centre, staff stress that support does not recognise addresses. “Your postcode is not a reliable indicator of your level of challenge,” explained chief executive a community leader. Despite being placed in the lowest 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, the estate retains a strong sense and feeling of togetherness among its inhabitants. By contrast, the neighbouring area ranks among the most prosperous 10% nationally. Echoes Elsewhere: 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 areas 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, aged 63. “You’ll probably find a lot of people over there never even talk to each other.” The economic divide is evident: an typical three-bedroom house costs about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while across the divide comparable properties fetch about £410,000. Locals describe a palpable sense of neglect. “Our neighbourhood gets ignored,” stated holistic health worker Susan Riley-Nevers. “Over here our amenities have slowly been taken away, and the majority of the community problems here are related to poverty.” The rise in these ‘deprivation divides’ paints a portrait of an ever more segregated society, where prosperity and need are often uncomfortably close neighbours.