The Growing ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: How Affluence and Deprivation Now Sit Side by Side in Across England.

In Nunsthorpe, inhabitants occupy homes only several yards from their wealthier neighbours in the adjacent Scartho village. A 1.8-metre-high wall physically separates the two areas in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, sealing off roads and walkways that once connected them.

“This is the divide between rich and poor,” remarked Serenity Colley, aged 37. “It’s been like this since I’ve known. I doubt they’ll bring it down because I suspect they’ll want to mix with us.”

An Increasingly Common Pattern Across the Country

Data from government figures reveals the extent of inequality often exists, at times over little more than a short distance of tarmac, a hedge row or a barrier. Decades of budget cuts and lack of funding have led to a situation where a majority of councils now contain a locality classified as one of the most deprived in the nation.

The spread of poverty has led to a significant rise in the quantity of locations where disadvantaged and well-off residents 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 rose to 119 in the latest data.

A Barrier Which Does More Than Separate Space

In Grimsby, the divide is the most pronounced in the country and painfully apparent. The wall is much more than a symbolic divide; it causes very real difficulties for everyday life.

• The school commute that should take a quarter of an hour turn into an sixty-minute detour.
• Reaching important amenities like supermarkets, schools and care homes is made more difficult.
• The site can attract vandalism and loitering, with instances of rubbish being thrown over the wall and related problems.

“You try to maintain a nice house and nice garden, and then you reside facing that,” noted one resident, motioning at the rusted metal wall.

Local Bonds Against a Backdrop of Hardship

Within a local community centre, workers stress that support does not recognise addresses. “Your postcode is not a reliable indicator of your personal struggles,” said chief executive a community leader.

Despite being placed in the lowest 10% for multiple deprivation indicators, Nunsthorpe boasts a fierce loyalty and sense of community among its inhabitants. By contrast, the neighbouring area is classified among the most prosperous 10% nationally.

A Similar Story: An Estate in Kent

This phenomenon is repeated nationally. The Stanhope estate in Ashford, Kent, a 1960s overspill estate, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of neighbourhoods in England. It is closely bordered by large detached homes built in the early 2000s that are in the wealthiest tenth for employment and quality of surroundings.

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

The economic gap is clear: an average three-bedroom house sells for about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while across the divide equivalent homes go for about £410,000.

Residents speak of a palpable feeling of neglect. “Our neighbourhood is neglected,” said resident Susan Riley-Nevers. “Over here our amenities have slowly been taken away, and most of the community problems here are to do with financial hardship.”

The increase in these ‘inequality borders’ presents a portrait of an increasingly segregated England, where prosperity and deprivation are often awkwardly in close proximity.