A Rising ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: The Way Affluence and Deprivation Are Found Side by Side in England.
Within Nunsthorpe, inhabitants live in homes only a few metres from their wealthier counterparts in the adjacent Scartho village. A six-foot-tall wall literally divides the two communities in the town of Grimsby, blocking off paths and streets that once linked them.
“It’s the divide between rich and poor,” said a resident, aged 37. “It’s been like this for as long as I’ve known. I don’t think they’ll bring it down because I suspect they’ll want to mix with us.”
An Increasingly Common National Picture
Analysis of official figures reveals the extent of disparity can run, sometimes across little more than a short distance of tarmac, a hedge row or a wall. Decades of austerity and underinvestment have led to a situation where almost two-thirds of local authorities now contain a locality ranking as one of the most deprived in the country.
This geographical widening of poverty has led to a significant increase in the number of locations where deprived and affluent people end up living side by side. Just a few years ago, just 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods bordered one of the wealthiest. This number increased to 119 in the latest data.
A Wall That Divides More Than Space
In Grimsby, the gap is the biggest in the country and starkly apparent. The barrier is much more than a metaphorical division; it creates very real problems for daily routines.
- School runs that ought to take a quarter of an hour turn into an sixty-minute journey.
- Reaching important services like supermarkets, educational facilities and care homes is hindered.
- The site can attract vandalism and loitering, with reports of litter being thrown over the wall and related problems.
“You try to have a well-kept home and garden, and then you live opposite that,” said one resident, motioning at the corroded barricade.
Local Bonds Amidst Challenges
At a local community centre, staff stress that support does not recognise addresses. “Your postcode is not a reliable indicator of your personal struggles,” said chief executive Tracey Good.
Regardless of being placed in the most deprived 10% for multiple deprivation indicators, Nunsthorpe retains a fierce loyalty and feeling of community among its residents. By contrast, the neighbouring area is classified among the most prosperous 10% nationally.
A Similar Story: An Estate in Kent
This pattern is repeated across the country. The Stanhope area in Ashford, Kent, a mid-century overspill estate, is in the 10% most deprived of areas in the country. It is immediately adjacent by large detached homes built in the early 2000s that are in the wealthiest tenth for job prospects and quality of surroundings.
“They may possess larger properties, but here there’s a stronger community,” commented a long-term resident, 63. “It’s likely a lot of 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 on the other side comparable properties go for about £410,000.
Locals describe a tangible sense of neglect. “Our neighbourhood gets ignored,” said holistic health worker Susan. “In this area our facilities have gradually disappeared, and most of the issues we face here are related to poverty.”
The rise in these ‘inequality borders’ presents a portrait of an ever more segregated England, where wealth and deprivation are frequently uncomfortably close neighbours.