A Growing ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: The Way Prosperity and Hardship Now Sit Cheek by Jowl in England.
In Nunsthorpe, residents occupy properties just several yards from their more affluent neighbours in nearby Scartho. A six-foot-tall wall physically divides the two areas in the town of Grimsby, blocking off paths and streets that previously connected them.
“It’s the posh-poor divide,” said a resident, aged 37. “It has been there since I’ve known. I doubt they’ll bring it down because I suspect they’ll want to associate with us.”
An Increasingly Common National Picture
Analysis of government figures shows the extent of disparity can run, sometimes across little more than a short distance of tarmac, a hedge row or a wall. Decades of austerity and lack of funding mean a majority of local authorities now contain a neighbourhood classified as one of the most deprived in the country.
The spread of poverty has coincided with a sharp rise in the quantity of locations where deprived and well-off residents end up as immediate neighbours. Just a few years ago, just 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods bordered one of the least deprived. That figure rose to 119 in the latest data.
A Barrier Which Does More Than Separate Land
At this Lincolnshire site, the gap is the biggest in the UK and painfully apparent. The wall transcends being just a metaphorical divide; it creates very real problems for daily routines.
- The school commute that should take a quarter of an hour become an hour-long journey.
- Access to key services like grocery stores, educational facilities and employment centres is made more difficult.
- The area often sees vandalism and loitering, with reports of litter being dumped over the wall and other issues.
“People strive to maintain a nice house and nice garden, and then you reside facing that,” noted one local, motioning at the rusted metal wall.
Community Spirit Against a Backdrop of Hardship
At Centre4, staff stress that support does not recognise addresses. “Where you live doesn’t necessarily indicate your level of challenge,” said chief executive a community leader.
Regardless of being placed in the lowest 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, the estate boasts a fierce loyalty and feeling of togetherness among its inhabitants. By contrast, the neighbouring area is classified among the least deprived 10% nationally.
A Similar Story: An Estate in Kent
This phenomenon is mirrored nationally. The Stanhope estate in Ashford, Kent, a 1960s housing development, is in the 10% most deprived of neighbourhoods in the country. It is closely bordered by spacious houses built in the early 2000s that are in the top 10% for job prospects and quality of surroundings.
“They may possess bigger houses, but here there’s more community,” said Phil Hockley, aged 63. “You’ll probably find a lot of people over there never even talk to each other.”
The financial divide is evident: an average family home costs about £275,000 on the estate, while across the divide comparable properties go for about £410,000.
Locals describe a tangible sense of being overlooked. “This part of the community gets ignored,” stated holistic health worker Susan Riley-Nevers. “Over here our amenities have gradually disappeared, and most of the community problems here are to do with financial hardship.”
The increase in these ‘deprivation divides’ paints a portrait of an increasingly divided England, where wealth and need are frequently awkwardly in close proximity.
