A Rising ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: The Way Prosperity and Hardship Now Sit Cheek by Jowl in Across England.

In Nunsthorpe, inhabitants live in properties only a few metres from their more affluent counterparts in the adjacent Scartho village. A 1.8-metre-high wall physically divides the two areas in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, sealing off paths and streets that previously connected them.

“This is the posh-poor divide,” said Serenity Colley, 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 don’t think they’ll want to mix with us.”

An Increasingly Common National Picture

Data from government figures shows the extent of inequality often exists, sometimes across nothing more than a short distance of tarmac, a line of hedges or a wall. Years of austerity and underinvestment mean a majority of local authorities now have a locality classified 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 affluent residents end up living side by side. In 2019, only 65 of the poorest neighbourhoods adjoined one of the least deprived. This number increased to 119 in the latest data.

A Barrier Which Does More Than Separate Land

In Grimsby, the gap is the biggest in the UK and starkly apparent. The wall is much more than a symbolic division; it causes very real problems for everyday life.

• School runs that ought to take 15-20 minutes turn into an sixty-minute detour.
• Reaching key services like supermarkets, schools and employment centres is made more difficult.
• The site often sees antisocial behaviour, with instances of rubbish being dumped over the wall and other problems.

“You try to have a well-kept home and garden, and then you reside facing that,” said one resident, gesturing towards the corroded barricade.

Local Bonds Amidst Hardship

Within a local community centre, workers emphasise that support transcends postcodes. “Where you live is not a reliable indicator of your personal struggles,” said director Tracey Good.

Despite being placed in the most deprived 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, Nunsthorpe retains a fierce loyalty and feeling of community among its inhabitants. Meanwhile, the neighbouring area is classified among the least deprived 10% overall.

A Similar Story: An Estate in Kent

This phenomenon is repeated across the country. The Stanhope area in Ashford, Kent, a mid-century overspill estate, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of areas in the country. It is immediately adjacent by spacious houses built in the early 2000s that sit in the top 10% for employment and quality of surroundings.

“They might have larger properties, but here there’s more community,” commented a long-term resident, aged 63. “It’s likely a lot of people over there don’t even speak to each other.”

The financial divide is clear: an typical three-bedroom house costs about £275,000 on the estate, while across the divide equivalent properties go for about £410,000.

Residents speak of a tangible sense of being overlooked. “Our neighbourhood is neglected,” said holistic health worker Susan Riley-Nevers. “Over here our amenities have slowly been taken away, and most of the issues we face here are to do with poverty.”

The increase in these ‘deprivation divides’ presents a picture of an increasingly segregated society, where prosperity and deprivation are often awkwardly close neighbours.