A Growing ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: The Way Affluence and Deprivation Now Sit Cheek by Jowl in England.

In a postwar estate known as ‘The Nunny’, inhabitants live in homes just a few metres from their wealthier counterparts in nearby Scartho village. One 1.8-metre-high barricade physically divides the two areas in the town of Grimsby, sealing off paths and streets that once connected them.

“This is the posh-poor divide,” remarked 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

Data from official statistics shows how deep inequality can run, sometimes over nothing more than a few metres of tarmac, a hedge row or a wall. Years of budget cuts and lack of funding have led to a situation where almost two-thirds of local authorities now have a locality ranking as one of the poorest in the country.

The spread of poverty has led to a sharp rise in the quantity of places where deprived and well-off residents end up living side by side. In 2019, only 65 of the poorest neighbourhoods bordered one of the wealthiest. This number rose to 119 in the most recent data.

A Barrier Which Does More Than Separate Space

At this Lincolnshire site, the gap is the most pronounced in the country and starkly obvious. The barrier transcends being just a metaphorical divide; it creates very real difficulties for everyday life.

• School runs that should take 15-20 minutes become an sixty-minute detour.
• Access to key services like grocery stores, educational facilities and employment centres is made more difficult.
• The area often sees vandalism and loitering, with reports of litter being dumped over the wall and related issues.

“You try to maintain a well-kept home and garden, and then you reside facing that,” noted one resident, motioning at the rusted barricade.

Community Spirit Amidst Challenges

Within Centre4, workers stress that need 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 multiple deprivation indicators, the estate boasts a strong sense and sense of community among its inhabitants. By contrast, the neighbouring area is classified among the least deprived 10% nationally.

Echoes Elsewhere: Stanhope in Ashford

This phenomenon is repeated across the country. The Stanhope area in Ashford, Kent, a 1960s housing development, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of areas in England. It is immediately adjacent by large houses built in the early 2000s that are in the top 10% for job prospects and quality of surroundings.

“They may possess bigger houses, but here there’s more community,” said a long-term resident, aged 63. “You’ll probably find a lot of people in the new builds never even talk to each other.”

The financial gap is evident: an average family home sells for about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while on the other side equivalent properties fetch about £410,000.

Locals speak of a palpable feeling of neglect. “Our neighbourhood gets ignored,” stated resident Susan Riley-Nevers. “Over here our facilities have gradually disappeared, and the majority of the community problems here are related to poverty.”

The rise in these ‘deprivation divides’ paints a portrait of an ever more divided England, where wealth and deprivation are often awkwardly in close proximity.