A Rising ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: The Way Affluence and Hardship Now Sit Cheek by Jowl in England.
In Nunsthorpe, inhabitants live in properties just several yards from their wealthier counterparts in the adjacent Scartho. A six-foot-tall barricade physically divides the two areas in the town of Grimsby, blocking off roads and walkways that once linked them.
“This is the divide between rich and poor,” remarked Serenity Colley, 37. “It has been there since I’ve known. I don’t think they’ll bring it down because I suspect they’ll want to mix with us.”
An Increasingly Common National Picture
Data from official figures shows the extent of disparity can run, at times over nothing more than a short distance of tarmac, a line of hedges or a wall. Years of austerity and underinvestment have led to a situation where a majority of local authorities now contain a locality classified as one of the most deprived in the country.
This geographical widening of poverty has coincided with a significant increase in the quantity of places where disadvantaged and affluent people end up living side by side. Just a few years ago, only 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods adjoined one of the least deprived. This number rose to 119 in the latest data.
A Wall That Does More Than Separate Space
At this Lincolnshire site, the gap is the most pronounced in the UK and starkly obvious. The wall transcends being just a symbolic division; it creates very real problems for everyday life.
- The school commute that ought to take a quarter of an hour become an sixty-minute detour.
- Reaching important services like grocery stores, educational facilities and employment centres is made more difficult.
- The site often sees antisocial behaviour, with instances of rubbish being dumped over the wall and other problems.
“You try to have a well-kept home and garden, and then you live opposite that,” said one local, motioning at the corroded barricade.
Community Spirit Against a Backdrop of Hardship
Within Centre4, workers emphasise that need transcends postcodes. “Your postcode is not a reliable indicator of your personal struggles,” said chief executive a community leader.
Regardless of being placed in the most deprived 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, the estate retains a strong sense and sense of community among its residents. By contrast, the neighbouring area is classified among the least deprived 10% nationally.
Echoes Elsewhere: An Estate in Kent
This pattern is repeated nationally. The Stanhope area in Ashford, Kent, a mid-century overspill estate, is in the 10% most deprived of areas in the country. It is closely bordered by spacious detached homes built in the 2000s that are in the top 10% for job prospects and quality of surroundings.
“They might have larger properties, but here there’s a stronger community,” commented Phil Hockley, 63. “It’s likely a lot of people in the new builds don’t even speak to each other.”
The financial divide is evident: an typical three-bedroom house sells for about £275,000 on the estate, while on the other side equivalent homes go for about £410,000.
Residents describe a palpable feeling of neglect. “This part of the community is neglected,” said holistic health worker Susan. “Over here our facilities have slowly been taken away, and the majority of the issues we face here are to do with financial hardship.”
The rise in these ‘deprivation divides’ presents a picture of an ever more divided society, where wealth and need are frequently awkwardly close neighbours.