The Growing ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: How Affluence and Deprivation Now Sit Cheek by Jowl in England.

In Nunsthorpe, inhabitants occupy homes only several yards from their more affluent counterparts in nearby Scartho village. One 1.8-metre-high barricade physically divides the two areas in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, blocking off roads and walkways that once connected them.

“This is the divide between rich and poor,” remarked Serenity Colley, 37. “It has been there for as long as I’ve known. I doubt they’ll take it down because I suspect they’ll want to associate with us.”

A Stark Pattern Across the Country

Data from official statistics reveals the extent of inequality can run, sometimes over nothing more than a few metres of tarmac, a line of hedges or a barrier. Years of austerity and lack of funding have led to a situation where a majority of local authorities now have a neighbourhood classified as one of the most deprived in the country.

The geographical widening of poverty has led to a significant increase in the quantity of locations where deprived and affluent residents end up as immediate neighbours. In 2019, just 65 of the most deprived areas bordered one of the least deprived. This number rose to 119 in the most recent data.

A Wall That Divides More Than Space

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 causes very real problems for everyday life.

• School runs that should take a quarter of an hour turn into an hour-long detour.
• Reaching important services like grocery stores, educational facilities and employment centres is hindered.
• The site often sees antisocial behaviour, with reports of rubbish being dumped over the wall and related issues.

“You try to maintain a well-kept home and garden, and then you reside facing that,” said one local, motioning at the corroded metal wall.

Local Bonds Against a Backdrop of Challenges

Within a local community centre, workers stress that support does not recognise addresses. “Your postcode doesn’t necessarily indicate your level of challenge,” explained chief executive Tracey Good.

Regardless of ranking in the lowest 10% for multiple deprivation indicators, the estate retains a strong sense and feeling of community among its inhabitants. Meanwhile, the neighbouring area is classified among the most prosperous 10% overall.

Echoes Elsewhere: An Estate in Kent

This pattern is repeated nationally. The Stanhope area in Kent, a 1960s overspill estate, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of neighbourhoods in the country. It is closely bordered by spacious detached homes built in the early 2000s that are in the top 10% for employment and quality of surroundings.

“They may possess larger properties, but here there’s a stronger community,” said Phil Hockley, aged 63. “It’s likely many people over there never even talk to each other.”

The economic gap is evident: an typical three-bedroom house costs about £275,000 on the estate, while across the divide equivalent homes fetch about £410,000.

Locals describe a tangible sense of neglect. “This part of the community is neglected,” stated holistic health worker Susan. “In this area our facilities have slowly been taken away, and most of the issues we face here are related to financial hardship.”

The rise in these ‘inequality borders’ paints a picture of an increasingly segregated society, where wealth and need are often uncomfortably in close proximity.