A Rising ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: How Affluence and Deprivation Are Found Cheek by Jowl in Across England.

Within a postwar estate known as ‘The Nunny’, residents live in properties only a few metres from their more affluent neighbours in the adjacent Scartho village. A 1.8-metre-high wall literally separates the two areas in the town of Grimsby, blocking off paths and streets that once connected them.

“This is the divide between rich and poor,” remarked Serenity Colley, aged 37. “It has been there for as long as I’ve known. I don’t think they’ll take it down because I suspect they’ll want to mix with us.”

A Stark Pattern Across the Country

Data from official statistics shows the extent of disparity often exists, at times over nothing more than a few metres 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 neighbourhood classified as one of the poorest in the nation.

This spread of deprivation has coincided with a sharp increase in the quantity of places where disadvantaged and well-off residents find themselves as immediate neighbours. In 2019, only 65 of the poorest neighbourhoods adjoined one of the wealthiest. This number rose to 119 in the most recent data.

A Barrier Which Does More Than Separate Space

In Grimsby, the gap is the biggest in the country and painfully apparent. The barrier is much more than a metaphorical division; it creates tangible difficulties for daily routines.

• The school commute that ought to take a quarter of an hour turn into an sixty-minute journey.
• Reaching important services like supermarkets, schools and employment centres is made more difficult.
• The site can attract antisocial behaviour, with instances of litter 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, motioning at the rusted barricade.

Community Spirit Amidst Challenges

At Centre4, workers stress that need does not recognise postcodes. “Your postcode doesn’t necessarily indicate your level of challenge,” said director a community leader.

Despite being placed in the most deprived 10% for multiple deprivation indicators, Nunsthorpe boasts a strong sense and sense of community among its inhabitants. Meanwhile, the neighbouring area ranks among the least deprived 10% nationally.

A Similar Story: An Estate in Kent

This pattern is mirrored across the country. The Stanhope estate in Kent, a 1960s overspill estate, is in the 10% most deprived of areas in the country. It is immediately adjacent by spacious houses built in the 2000s that sit in the wealthiest tenth for employment and quality of surroundings.

“They might have bigger houses, but here there’s more community,” said a long-term resident, 63. “It’s likely many people over there don’t even speak to each other.”

The economic gap is evident: an average three-bedroom house sells for about £275,000 on the estate, while on the other side equivalent homes go for about £410,000.

Locals speak of a palpable sense of being overlooked. “This part of the community gets ignored,” said resident Susan. “Over here our amenities have gradually disappeared, and most of the issues we face here are to do with financial hardship.”

The rise in these ‘inequality borders’ presents a picture of an increasingly segregated England, where prosperity and deprivation are frequently uncomfortably close neighbours.