The Growing ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: How Prosperity and Deprivation Now Sit Side by Side in England.

Within Nunsthorpe, inhabitants live in homes just a few metres from their wealthier counterparts in the adjacent Scartho. A 1.8-metre-high wall physically divides the two communities in the town of Grimsby, blocking off paths and streets that previously linked them.

“It’s the divide between rich and poor,” said Serenity Colley, 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.”

A Stark Pattern Across the Country

Data from official statistics reveals the extent of disparity can run, at times across little more than a short distance of asphalt, a line of hedges or a wall. Decades of austerity and lack of funding have led to a situation where almost two-thirds of local authorities now have a locality classified as one of the most deprived in the nation.

This spread of poverty has coincided with a sharp increase in the quantity of places where disadvantaged and well-off residents find themselves as immediate neighbours. Just a few years ago, just 65 of the poorest neighbourhoods adjoined one of the least deprived. That figure increased to 119 in the latest data.

A Barrier Which Divides More Than Space

In Grimsby, the gap is the most pronounced in the country and starkly obvious. The wall is much more than a metaphorical divide; it causes very real difficulties for everyday life.

• School runs that should take a quarter of an hour become an hour-long journey.
• Access to important amenities like supermarkets, schools and employment centres is made more difficult.
• The area can attract vandalism and loitering, with instances of litter being thrown over the wall and other issues.

“You try to maintain a well-kept home and garden, and then you reside facing that,” noted one resident, gesturing towards the rusted barricade.

Local Bonds Against a Backdrop of Challenges

Within Centre4, staff emphasise that support transcends addresses. “Your postcode is not a reliable indicator of your personal struggles,” explained director a community leader.

Regardless of ranking in the lowest 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, Nunsthorpe retains a fierce loyalty and sense of community among its inhabitants. By contrast, the neighbouring area ranks among the least deprived 10% nationally.

A Similar Story: Stanhope in Ashford

This phenomenon is mirrored across the country. The Stanhope estate in Kent, a 1960s overspill estate, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of neighbourhoods in England. It is immediately adjacent by large detached homes 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,” commented Phil Hockley, 63. “It’s likely many people in the new builds don’t even speak to each other.”

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

Residents speak of a tangible feeling of being overlooked. “Our neighbourhood is neglected,” stated resident Susan Riley-Nevers. “Over here our facilities have gradually disappeared, and most of the community problems here are to do with poverty.”

The increase in these ‘deprivation divides’ presents a picture of an increasingly divided England, where prosperity and deprivation are often uncomfortably in close proximity.