The Growing ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: How Affluence and Hardship Are Found Cheek by Jowl in England.

In Nunsthorpe, inhabitants live in properties just a few metres from their wealthier neighbours in the adjacent Scartho. One six-foot-tall barricade physically divides the two areas in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, sealing off roads and walkways that previously linked them.

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

An Increasingly Common Pattern Across the Country

Analysis of government figures shows how deep inequality often exists, at times over little more than a short distance of tarmac, a hedge row or a barrier. Years of austerity and underinvestment mean almost two-thirds of councils now have a neighbourhood ranking as one of the poorest in the nation.

This geographical widening of deprivation has coincided with a sharp rise in the quantity of locations where disadvantaged and well-off residents end up living side by side. In 2019, just 65 of the poorest neighbourhoods adjoined one of the least deprived. That figure increased to 119 in the latest data.

A Barrier Which Does More Than Separate Space

In Grimsby, the gap is the biggest in the country and painfully obvious. The barrier transcends being just a symbolic divide; it creates very real difficulties for everyday life.

• School runs that ought to take a quarter of an hour turn into an sixty-minute detour.
• Reaching key amenities like supermarkets, educational facilities and employment centres is hindered.
• The area can attract vandalism and loitering, with reports of rubbish being thrown over the wall and other problems.

“You try to maintain a well-kept home and garden, and then you live opposite that,” noted one resident, motioning at the corroded metal wall.

Local Bonds Amidst Challenges

At a local community centre, workers emphasise that support does not recognise postcodes. “Your postcode is not a reliable indicator of your personal struggles,” said director a community leader.

Regardless of ranking in the lowest 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, Nunsthorpe retains a fierce loyalty and feeling of togetherness among its residents. Meanwhile, Scartho is classified among the most prosperous 10% nationally.

Echoes Elsewhere: Stanhope in Ashford

This pattern is mirrored across the country. The Stanhope estate in Kent, a 1960s overspill estate, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of areas in England. It is immediately adjacent by spacious houses built in the 2000s that sit in the top 10% for employment and quality of surroundings.

“They may possess bigger houses, but here there’s a stronger community,” said Phil Hockley, aged 63. “It’s likely a lot of people over there don’t even speak to each other.”

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

Locals speak of a tangible sense of neglect. “This part of the community gets ignored,” said holistic health worker Susan Riley-Nevers. “In this area our facilities have gradually disappeared, and most of the issues we face here are related to poverty.”

The increase in these ‘deprivation divides’ paints a portrait of an ever more segregated society, where wealth and deprivation are often uncomfortably in close proximity.