A Growing ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: How Affluence and Hardship Are Found Side by Side in England.

Within Nunsthorpe, residents occupy homes just several yards from their wealthier neighbours in the adjacent Scartho. A six-foot-tall barricade literally separates the two areas in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, blocking off roads and walkways that previously linked them.

“It’s the posh-poor divide,” remarked a resident, aged 37. “It has been there for as long as 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

Data from government statistics reveals the extent of disparity often exists, sometimes over little more than a short distance of asphalt, a hedge row or a barrier. Decades of austerity and lack of funding have led to a situation where a majority of local authorities now contain a neighbourhood classified as one of the most deprived in the country.

The spread of deprivation has coincided with a significant rise in the quantity of locations where deprived and affluent residents find themselves living side by side. In 2019, just 65 of the poorest neighbourhoods adjoined one of the wealthiest. This number rose to 119 in the latest data.

A Barrier Which Divides More Than Land

In Grimsby, the gap is the most pronounced in the country and painfully obvious. The wall is much more than a metaphorical division; it causes tangible problems for everyday life.

• School runs that ought to take 15-20 minutes become an sixty-minute journey.
• Reaching key amenities like supermarkets, schools and employment centres is made more difficult.
• The site can attract antisocial behaviour, with reports of rubbish being dumped over the wall and other issues.

“You try to have a nice house and nice garden, and then you live opposite that,” noted one local, motioning at the rusted barricade.

Community Spirit Against a Backdrop of Hardship

Within a local community centre, workers stress that support transcends postcodes. “Where you live doesn’t necessarily indicate your level of challenge,” explained chief executive Tracey Good.

Despite being placed in the lowest 10% for multiple deprivation indicators, Nunsthorpe retains a strong sense and sense of community among its inhabitants. By contrast, Scartho ranks among the most prosperous 10% overall.

A Similar Story: Stanhope in Ashford

This pattern is repeated across the country. The Stanhope area in Ashford, Kent, a 1960s overspill estate, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of neighbourhoods in England. It is closely bordered by spacious houses built in the early 2000s that are in the top 10% for job prospects and living environment.

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

The economic gap is evident: an average family home costs about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while on the other side equivalent properties go for about £410,000.

Residents speak of a tangible feeling of neglect. “Our neighbourhood gets ignored,” said holistic health worker Susan Riley-Nevers. “Over here our facilities have slowly been taken away, and most of the community problems here are related to financial hardship.”

The rise in these ‘deprivation divides’ presents a picture of an ever more divided England, where prosperity and need are often uncomfortably close neighbours.