A Growing ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: The Way Prosperity and Hardship Are Found Side by Side in England.

Within Nunsthorpe, inhabitants occupy properties just a few metres from their more affluent neighbours in nearby Scartho village. One 1.8-metre-high barricade physically divides the two communities in the town of Grimsby, blocking off paths and streets that previously linked them.

“It’s the posh-poor divide,” remarked a resident, 37. “It’s been like this since I’ve known. I don’t think they’ll bring it down because I don’t think they’ll want to associate with us.”

An Increasingly Common National Picture

Analysis of official figures shows how deep disparity can run, at times across nothing more than a few metres of asphalt, a hedge row or a wall. Decades of budget cuts and lack of funding have led to a situation where a majority of local authorities now have a neighbourhood ranking as one of the most deprived in the nation.

This spread of deprivation has coincided with a sharp rise in the number of places where disadvantaged and well-off residents end up living side by side. In 2019, just 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods adjoined one of the least deprived. That figure rose to 119 in the most recent data.

A Barrier Which Does More Than Separate Space

At this Lincolnshire site, the divide is the most pronounced in the country and starkly apparent. The wall transcends being just a symbolic division; it creates tangible difficulties for daily routines.

• School runs that should take a quarter of an hour turn into an sixty-minute detour.
• Reaching key amenities like grocery stores, educational facilities and care homes is made more difficult.
• The area often sees antisocial behaviour, with reports of litter being thrown over the wall and other issues.

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

Local Bonds Amidst Challenges

At a local community centre, workers stress that support does not recognise postcodes. “Where you live doesn’t necessarily indicate your personal struggles,” said chief executive Tracey Good.

Regardless of ranking in the most deprived 10% for multiple deprivation indicators, the estate boasts a fierce loyalty and feeling of community among its inhabitants. Meanwhile, the neighbouring area is classified among the most prosperous 10% nationally.

Echoes Elsewhere: An Estate in Kent

This phenomenon is mirrored across the country. The Stanhope area in Ashford, Kent, a 1960s housing development, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of areas in the country. It is immediately adjacent by large detached homes built in the 2000s that are in the wealthiest tenth for employment and living environment.

“They may possess bigger houses, but here there’s more community,” commented a long-term resident, 63. “It’s likely many people in the new builds don’t even speak to each other.”

The economic gap is evident: an typical family home costs about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while across the divide equivalent homes fetch about £410,000.

Residents speak of a tangible feeling of being overlooked. “This part of the community is neglected,” said holistic health worker Susan. “Over here our facilities have gradually disappeared, and most of the community problems here are related to poverty.”

The increase in these ‘deprivation divides’ paints a picture of an ever more segregated society, where prosperity and deprivation are frequently uncomfortably close neighbours.