🔗 Share this article The Rising ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: How Prosperity and Hardship Now Sit Side by Side in Across England. In Nunsthorpe, residents live in properties just several yards from their wealthier counterparts in the adjacent Scartho. One 1.8-metre-high barricade literally separates the two communities in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, sealing off roads and walkways that once connected them. “It’s the divide between rich and poor,” said a resident, aged 37. “It has been there for as long as I’ve known. I don’t think they’ll bring it down because I suspect they’ll want to associate with us.” A Stark National Picture Data from government figures shows how deep disparity often exists, at times across nothing more than a short distance of tarmac, a line of hedges or a wall. Decades of austerity and lack of funding have led to a situation where a majority of local authorities now have a neighbourhood classified as one of the most deprived in the nation. This spread of poverty has coincided with a sharp increase in the quantity of places where deprived and affluent people end up living side by side. In 2019, only 65 of the poorest areas adjoined 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 gap is the biggest in the UK and painfully obvious. The wall transcends being just a symbolic division; it causes very real difficulties for daily routines. School runs that should take a quarter of an hour become an sixty-minute journey. Reaching key services like supermarkets, schools and employment centres is hindered. The area can attract antisocial behaviour, with reports of rubbish being thrown over the wall and other problems. “People strive to maintain a well-kept home and garden, and then you live opposite that,” noted one resident, motioning at the corroded metal wall. Local Bonds Amidst Hardship At a local community centre, staff emphasise that support does not recognise postcodes. “Your postcode 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, Nunsthorpe retains a fierce loyalty and feeling of togetherness among its residents. By contrast, Scartho ranks among the least deprived 10% nationally. Echoes Elsewhere: An Estate in Kent This phenomenon is mirrored nationally. The Stanhope estate in Kent, a mid-century housing development, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of areas in England. It is closely bordered by large houses built in the early 2000s that are in the wealthiest tenth for employment and living environment. “They may possess larger properties, but here there’s a stronger community,” said a long-term resident, 63. “It’s likely a lot of people in the new builds never even talk to each other.” The economic gap is clear: an typical family home sells for about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while across the divide comparable properties fetch about £410,000. Locals speak of a tangible sense of being overlooked. “Our neighbourhood is neglected,” stated holistic health worker Susan Riley-Nevers. “Over here our amenities have slowly been taken away, and most of the issues we face here are to do with financial hardship.” The rise in these ‘deprivation divides’ paints a picture of an increasingly segregated society, where wealth and deprivation are frequently awkwardly in close proximity.
In Nunsthorpe, residents live in properties just several yards from their wealthier counterparts in the adjacent Scartho. One 1.8-metre-high barricade literally separates the two communities in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, sealing off roads and walkways that once connected them. “It’s the divide between rich and poor,” said a resident, aged 37. “It has been there for as long as I’ve known. I don’t think they’ll bring it down because I suspect they’ll want to associate with us.” A Stark National Picture Data from government figures shows how deep disparity often exists, at times across nothing more than a short distance of tarmac, a line of hedges or a wall. Decades of austerity and lack of funding have led to a situation where a majority of local authorities now have a neighbourhood classified as one of the most deprived in the nation. This spread of poverty has coincided with a sharp increase in the quantity of places where deprived and affluent people end up living side by side. In 2019, only 65 of the poorest areas adjoined 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 gap is the biggest in the UK and painfully obvious. The wall transcends being just a symbolic division; it causes very real difficulties for daily routines. School runs that should take a quarter of an hour become an sixty-minute journey. Reaching key services like supermarkets, schools and employment centres is hindered. The area can attract antisocial behaviour, with reports of rubbish being thrown over the wall and other problems. “People strive to maintain a well-kept home and garden, and then you live opposite that,” noted one resident, motioning at the corroded metal wall. Local Bonds Amidst Hardship At a local community centre, staff emphasise that support does not recognise postcodes. “Your postcode 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, Nunsthorpe retains a fierce loyalty and feeling of togetherness among its residents. By contrast, Scartho ranks among the least deprived 10% nationally. Echoes Elsewhere: An Estate in Kent This phenomenon is mirrored nationally. The Stanhope estate in Kent, a mid-century housing development, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of areas in England. It is closely bordered by large houses built in the early 2000s that are in the wealthiest tenth for employment and living environment. “They may possess larger properties, but here there’s a stronger community,” said a long-term resident, 63. “It’s likely a lot of people in the new builds never even talk to each other.” The economic gap is clear: an typical family home sells for about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while across the divide comparable properties fetch about £410,000. Locals speak of a tangible sense of being overlooked. “Our neighbourhood is neglected,” stated holistic health worker Susan Riley-Nevers. “Over here our amenities have slowly been taken away, and most of the issues we face here are to do with financial hardship.” The rise in these ‘deprivation divides’ paints a picture of an increasingly segregated society, where wealth and deprivation are frequently awkwardly in close proximity.