A Rising ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: The Way Affluence and Deprivation Are Found Side by Side in England.

Within a postwar estate known as ‘The Nunny’, residents live in properties just several yards from their more affluent neighbours in nearby Scartho. A six-foot-tall barricade physically divides the two areas in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, blocking off roads and walkways that once linked them.

“This is the divide between rich and poor,” remarked 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 associate with us.”

A Stark National Picture

Analysis of official figures reveals the extent of inequality can run, sometimes across nothing more than a short distance of asphalt, a hedge row or a wall. Decades of budget cuts and lack of funding mean almost two-thirds of local authorities now have a locality ranking as one of the poorest in the country.

The geographical widening of poverty has led to a sharp rise in the quantity of places where deprived and affluent people find themselves living side by side. In 2019, only 65 of the most deprived areas bordered one of the wealthiest. That figure rose to 119 in the latest data.

A Barrier Which Divides More Than Land

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

• School runs that should take 15-20 minutes become an sixty-minute journey.
• Reaching key services like supermarkets, educational facilities and employment centres is hindered.
• The area can attract vandalism and loitering, with reports of rubbish being dumped over the wall and related issues.

“People strive to have a well-kept home and garden, and then you live opposite that,” noted one local, motioning at the corroded barricade.

Community Spirit Against a Backdrop of Challenges

Within Centre4, staff stress that support does not recognise addresses. “Where you live doesn’t necessarily indicate your level of challenge,” explained chief executive Tracey Good.

Despite being placed in the lowest 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, the estate retains a fierce loyalty and feeling of community among its inhabitants. By contrast, Scartho ranks among the least deprived 10% overall.

Echoes Elsewhere: An Estate in Kent

This phenomenon is mirrored across the country. The Stanhope area in Ashford, Kent, a 1960s overspill estate, is in the 10% most deprived of areas in the country. It is closely bordered by spacious houses built in the early 2000s that are in the wealthiest tenth for job prospects and living environment.

“They may possess larger properties, but here there’s a stronger community,” said a long-term resident, 63. “You’ll probably find many people in the new builds never even talk to each other.”

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

Residents describe a tangible sense of neglect. “Our neighbourhood is neglected,” said resident Susan Riley-Nevers. “Over here our facilities have slowly been taken away, 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 segregated England, where wealth and need are frequently awkwardly in close proximity.