The Rising ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: The Way Prosperity and Deprivation Are Found Side by Side in England.

Within Nunsthorpe, inhabitants live in properties just several yards from their more affluent counterparts in nearby Scartho. A 1.8-metre-high barricade literally divides the two communities in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, sealing off roads and walkways that once linked them.

“This is the posh-poor divide,” said a resident, 37. “It has been there since I’ve known. I don’t think they’ll take it down because I suspect they’ll want to associate with us.”

An Increasingly Common National Picture

Data from official statistics shows how deep inequality often exists, at times over little more than a few metres of asphalt, a line of hedges or a barrier. Decades of austerity and lack of funding mean a majority of councils now have a neighbourhood classified as one of the poorest in the country.

The geographical widening of poverty has led to a significant increase in the number of places where deprived and well-off residents end up as immediate neighbours. In 2019, just 65 of the poorest areas bordered one of the wealthiest. This number increased to 119 in the most recent data.

A Barrier Which Divides More Than Space

At this Lincolnshire site, the gap is the biggest in the UK and starkly obvious. The wall transcends being just a metaphorical division; it causes tangible problems for daily routines.

• School runs that should take a quarter of an hour become an hour-long detour.
• Access to key services like grocery stores, educational facilities and care homes is hindered.
• The site can attract antisocial behaviour, with reports of rubbish being thrown over the wall and related issues.

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

Local Bonds Amidst Hardship

Within a local community centre, workers stress that support transcends postcodes. “Your postcode doesn’t necessarily indicate your personal struggles,” explained director a community leader.

Regardless of ranking in the most deprived 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, Nunsthorpe boasts a fierce loyalty and feeling of togetherness among its inhabitants. By contrast, the neighbouring area is classified among the most prosperous 10% nationally.

Echoes Elsewhere: Stanhope in Ashford

This pattern is mirrored across the country. The Stanhope area in Kent, a mid-century overspill estate, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of neighbourhoods in the country. It is immediately adjacent by large detached homes built in the early 2000s that are in the top 10% for job prospects and living environment.

“They may possess larger properties, but here there’s a stronger community,” commented a long-term resident, aged 63. “You’ll probably find a lot of people over there don’t even speak to each other.”

The financial gap is clear: an average family home sells for about £275,000 on the estate, while on the other side comparable properties fetch about £410,000.

Locals speak of a tangible feeling of being overlooked. “Our neighbourhood is neglected,” said holistic health worker Susan Riley-Nevers. “In this area our facilities have slowly been taken away, and the majority of the issues we face here are to do with poverty.”

The rise in these ‘deprivation divides’ paints a portrait of an increasingly divided England, where wealth and deprivation are often uncomfortably in close proximity.