The Rising ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: How Prosperity and Hardship Are Found Cheek by Jowl in England.
In Nunsthorpe, inhabitants occupy homes only several yards from their more affluent neighbours in the adjacent Scartho village. One six-foot-tall wall physically separates the two areas in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, blocking off paths and streets that once linked them.
“This is the divide between rich and poor,” said a resident, 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 National Picture
Analysis of government statistics reveals how deep inequality often exists, sometimes over nothing more than a few metres of asphalt, a hedge row or a wall. Decades of austerity and underinvestment mean a majority of local authorities now have a locality classified as one of the most deprived in the country.
The spread of poverty has led to a sharp rise in the quantity of locations where deprived and well-off people find themselves living side by side. In 2019, only 65 of the most deprived areas bordered one of the least deprived. That figure rose to 119 in the latest data.
A Barrier Which Divides More Than Space
At this Lincolnshire site, the divide is the biggest in the country and painfully apparent. The wall transcends being just a symbolic division; it creates very real difficulties for daily routines.
- The school commute that should take 15-20 minutes turn into an sixty-minute detour.
- Access to key amenities like supermarkets, schools and care homes is hindered.
- The site often sees vandalism and loitering, with instances of litter being thrown over the wall and related problems.
“You try to maintain a well-kept home and garden, and then you live opposite that,” said one local, gesturing towards the corroded metal wall.
Local Bonds Amidst Hardship
At Centre4, workers stress that support transcends postcodes. “Your postcode is not a reliable indicator of your personal struggles,” said director a community leader.
Despite being placed in the lowest 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, Nunsthorpe boasts a fierce loyalty and feeling of togetherness among its residents. By contrast, Scartho is classified among the least deprived 10% overall.
A Similar Story: An Estate in Kent
This pattern is repeated across the country. The Stanhope area in Kent, a 1960s overspill estate, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of neighbourhoods in the country. It is immediately adjacent by spacious houses built in the 2000s that sit in the wealthiest tenth for job prospects and quality of surroundings.
“They might have larger properties, but here there’s more community,” said a long-term resident, aged 63. “It’s likely a lot of people in the new builds never even talk to each other.”
The economic gap is evident: an average three-bedroom house costs about £275,000 on the estate, while across the divide equivalent properties go for about £410,000.
Locals speak of a tangible sense of neglect. “Our neighbourhood gets ignored,” stated holistic health worker Susan. “In this area our facilities have gradually disappeared, and most of the community problems here are to do with financial hardship.”
The rise in these ‘deprivation divides’ paints a portrait of an ever more divided England, where prosperity and need are often uncomfortably in close proximity.