A Growing ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: The Way Prosperity and Hardship Now Sit Side by Side in England.

In Nunsthorpe, inhabitants occupy properties only a few metres from their wealthier neighbours in the adjacent Scartho village. One 1.8-metre-high barricade physically separates the two communities in the town of Grimsby, sealing off roads and walkways that once linked them.

“It’s the divide between rich and poor,” said Serenity Colley, 37. “It’s been like this for as long as I’ve known. I doubt 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 figures reveals how deep inequality can run, at times across nothing more than a short distance of asphalt, a hedge row or a wall. Decades of austerity and lack of funding mean almost two-thirds of councils now contain a neighbourhood ranking as one of the poorest in the nation.

This spread of deprivation has led to a sharp rise in the number of places where disadvantaged and affluent people find themselves living side by side. In 2019, only 65 of the poorest areas adjoined one of the least deprived. This number rose to 119 in the most recent data.

A Wall That Divides More Than Space

In Grimsby, the divide is the biggest in the country and starkly apparent. The wall transcends being just a metaphorical 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 key amenities like supermarkets, schools and employment centres is hindered.
• The site can attract vandalism and loitering, with reports of rubbish being thrown over the wall and other problems.

“You try to maintain a well-kept home and garden, and then you live opposite that,” noted one local, gesturing towards the corroded barricade.

Community Spirit Against a Backdrop of Challenges

At a local community centre, workers stress that support transcends addresses. “Where you live is not a reliable indicator of your level of challenge,” said director a community leader.

Regardless of being placed in the most deprived 10% for multiple deprivation indicators, Nunsthorpe retains a fierce loyalty and sense of togetherness among its residents. Meanwhile, Scartho is classified among the least deprived 10% nationally.

Echoes Elsewhere: Stanhope in Ashford

This pattern is repeated nationally. The Stanhope area in Ashford, Kent, a 1960s overspill estate, is in the 10% most deprived of neighbourhoods in the country. It is immediately adjacent by spacious detached homes built in the 2000s that are in the top 10% for employment and living environment.

“They might have larger properties, but here there’s a stronger community,” said a long-term resident, 63. “You’ll probably find many people over there don’t even speak to each other.”

The economic divide is clear: an average family home costs about £275,000 on the estate, while on the other side equivalent homes go for about £410,000.

Locals describe a tangible sense of being overlooked. “This part of the community is neglected,” said holistic health worker Susan. “Over here our amenities have gradually disappeared, and most of the issues we face here are to do with financial hardship.”

The rise in these ‘deprivation divides’ presents a picture of an increasingly divided England, where wealth and need are often awkwardly in close proximity.