A Rising ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: How Prosperity and Deprivation Now Sit Side by Side in England.
Within Nunsthorpe, inhabitants live in homes just several yards from their wealthier counterparts in the adjacent Scartho village. One 1.8-metre-high wall physically divides the two areas in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, blocking off roads and walkways that once connected them.
“This is the posh-poor divide,” said a resident, aged 37. “It has been there since I’ve known. I don’t think they’ll take it down because I suspect they’ll want to mix with us.”
An Increasingly Common Pattern Across the Country
Analysis of official figures shows the extent of disparity often exists, at times over little more than a few metres of tarmac, a line of hedges or a barrier. Decades of austerity and lack of funding mean a majority of local authorities now contain a neighbourhood classified as one of the most deprived in the nation.
The geographical widening of deprivation has coincided with a sharp rise in the quantity of places where deprived and well-off people end up living side by side. In 2019, only 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods bordered one of the wealthiest. This number rose to 119 in the most recent data.
A Barrier Which Does More Than Separate Space
At this Lincolnshire site, the divide is the biggest in the UK and starkly obvious. The barrier is much more than a metaphorical divide; it creates tangible problems for everyday life.
- School runs that ought to take a quarter of an hour turn into an hour-long detour.
- Access to important amenities like supermarkets, educational facilities and care homes is hindered.
- The site can attract antisocial behaviour, with reports of rubbish being dumped over the wall and related issues.
“You try to maintain a nice house and nice garden, and then you reside facing that,” said one resident, motioning at the corroded barricade.
Local Bonds Against a Backdrop of Hardship
Within a local community centre, staff emphasise that support does not recognise addresses. “Your postcode doesn’t necessarily indicate your personal struggles,” said director Tracey Good.
Regardless of being placed in the most deprived 10% for multiple deprivation indicators, the estate retains a fierce loyalty and feeling of community among its inhabitants. Meanwhile, Scartho is classified among the least deprived 10% nationally.
A Similar Story: An Estate in Kent
This pattern is repeated nationally. The Stanhope area in Kent, a mid-century overspill estate, is in the 10% most deprived of areas in England. It is closely bordered by spacious detached homes built in the early 2000s that are in the top 10% for job prospects and living environment.
“They may possess bigger houses, but here there’s more community,” said Phil Hockley, 63. “It’s likely a lot of people in the new builds never even talk to each other.”
The economic divide is evident: an typical family home costs about £275,000 on the estate, while across the divide comparable properties go for about £410,000.
Locals describe a tangible feeling of being overlooked. “Our neighbourhood gets ignored,” said resident Susan Riley-Nevers. “In this area our amenities have gradually disappeared, and the majority of the issues we face here are related to poverty.”
The rise in these ‘inequality borders’ paints a portrait of an increasingly segregated society, where wealth and need are often awkwardly close neighbours.