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

In Nunsthorpe, inhabitants live in properties only several yards from their wealthier neighbours in the adjacent Scartho village. One six-foot-tall wall physically divides the two communities in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, blocking off roads and walkways that once connected them.

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

An Increasingly Common National Picture

Data from government statistics reveals the extent of inequality can run, sometimes across little more than a short distance of tarmac, a hedge row or a barrier. Decades of austerity and lack of funding have led to a situation where almost two-thirds of councils now have a neighbourhood ranking as one of the most deprived in the country.

The geographical widening of deprivation has led to a significant rise in the quantity of places where deprived and well-off residents end up as immediate neighbours. In 2019, just 65 of the most deprived areas bordered one of the least deprived. That figure rose to 119 in the most recent data.

A Wall That Divides More Than Space

At this Lincolnshire site, the divide is the most pronounced in the country and painfully apparent. The wall transcends being just a symbolic division; it causes very real difficulties for everyday life.

• School runs that ought to take a quarter of an hour turn into an sixty-minute detour.
• Reaching important services like grocery stores, educational facilities and employment centres is hindered.
• The area can attract vandalism and loitering, with instances of rubbish being dumped over the wall and related issues.

“You try to have a well-kept home and garden, and then you reside facing that,” noted one local, gesturing towards the rusted metal wall.

Local Bonds Amidst Challenges

Within a local community centre, staff stress that support transcends addresses. “Where you live doesn’t necessarily indicate your personal struggles,” explained director Tracey Good.

Despite being placed in the lowest 10% for multiple deprivation indicators, the estate boasts a fierce loyalty and feeling of togetherness among its inhabitants. Meanwhile, Scartho ranks 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 closely bordered by spacious houses built in the early 2000s that are in the wealthiest tenth for job prospects and living environment.

“They might have larger properties, but here there’s more community,” commented Phil Hockley, 63. “You’ll probably find a lot of people in the new builds never even talk to each other.”

The financial divide is clear: an average family home sells for about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while across the divide equivalent homes go for about £410,000.

Residents speak of a palpable sense of being overlooked. “Our neighbourhood is neglected,” said resident Susan. “Over here our amenities 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’ paints a picture of an ever more segregated society, where wealth and deprivation are frequently awkwardly in close proximity.