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

Within Nunsthorpe, inhabitants live in homes only several yards from their wealthier counterparts in nearby Scartho. One six-foot-tall barricade literally divides the two communities in the town of Grimsby, blocking off roads and walkways that once linked them.

“It’s the posh-poor divide,” said Serenity Colley, aged 37. “It’s been like this since I’ve known. I don’t think they’ll take it down because I don’t think they’ll want to mix with us.”

An Increasingly Common Pattern Across the Country

Analysis of official figures shows how deep disparity often exists, sometimes over nothing more than a short distance of asphalt, a line of hedges or a barrier. Years of austerity and lack of funding mean almost two-thirds of local authorities now have a neighbourhood ranking as one of the poorest in the country.

The geographical widening of deprivation has coincided with a sharp increase in the number of places where deprived and well-off residents find themselves as immediate neighbours. Just a few years ago, only 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods bordered one of the least deprived. That figure rose to 119 in the latest data.

A Wall That Divides More Than Space

At this Lincolnshire site, the divide is the biggest in the UK and starkly apparent. The barrier is much more than a metaphorical division; it causes very real problems for everyday life.

• The school commute that ought to take 15-20 minutes become an sixty-minute journey.
• Access to important services like grocery stores, educational facilities and employment centres is made more difficult.
• The area can attract vandalism and loitering, with instances of rubbish being dumped over the wall and other issues.

“People strive to maintain a nice house and nice garden, and then you reside facing that,” said one local, gesturing towards the rusted metal wall.

Community Spirit Amidst Hardship

At Centre4, workers stress that support does not recognise postcodes. “Where you live doesn’t necessarily indicate your level of challenge,” said chief executive a community leader.

Despite ranking in the most deprived 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, Nunsthorpe boasts a strong sense and feeling of community among its inhabitants. By contrast, the neighbouring area is classified among the most prosperous 10% overall.

Echoes Elsewhere: Stanhope in Ashford

This pattern is mirrored across the country. The Stanhope area in Ashford, Kent, a 1960s overspill estate, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of neighbourhoods in the country. It is immediately adjacent by large houses built in the 2000s that are in the top 10% for job prospects and quality of surroundings.

“They might have larger properties, 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 sells for about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while on the other side comparable homes fetch about £410,000.

Residents speak of a palpable feeling of being overlooked. “Our neighbourhood gets ignored,” said holistic health worker Susan. “In this area our facilities have slowly been taken away, and most of the issues we face here are to do with financial hardship.”

The rise in these ‘deprivation divides’ paints a portrait of an increasingly divided society, where wealth and deprivation are frequently awkwardly close neighbours.