A Growing ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: How Prosperity and Deprivation Are Found Cheek by Jowl in Across England.
Within a postwar estate known as ‘The Nunny’, inhabitants live in properties just a few metres from their wealthier counterparts in nearby Scartho. A six-foot-tall barricade physically divides the two communities in the town of Grimsby, sealing off roads and walkways that once linked them.
“This is the divide between rich and poor,” remarked Serenity Colley, 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
Data from official statistics reveals the extent of inequality often exists, at times across nothing more than a short distance of asphalt, a line of hedges or a wall. Decades of budget cuts and underinvestment mean almost two-thirds of local authorities now have a locality classified as one of the most deprived in the country.
This spread of deprivation has coincided with a significant increase in the quantity of locations where disadvantaged and affluent residents find themselves living side by side. In 2019, just 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods bordered one of the least deprived. That figure rose to 119 in the most recent data.
A Barrier Which Divides More Than Land
At this Lincolnshire site, the gap is the biggest in the country and painfully apparent. The barrier transcends being just a metaphorical division; it causes tangible difficulties for daily routines.
- School runs that should take a quarter of an hour turn into an sixty-minute detour.
- Reaching key services like grocery stores, educational facilities and employment centres is hindered.
- The area can attract vandalism and loitering, with instances of rubbish being thrown over the wall and other problems.
“You try to have a well-kept home and garden, and then you reside facing that,” noted one local, motioning at the rusted barricade.
Local Bonds Amidst Challenges
Within a local community centre, staff stress that support does not recognise postcodes. “Where you live is not a reliable indicator of your level of challenge,” said director a community leader.
Regardless of ranking in the most deprived 10% for multiple deprivation indicators, the estate retains a strong sense and feeling of togetherness among its residents. By contrast, Scartho ranks among the least deprived 10% nationally.
A Similar Story: Stanhope in Ashford
This pattern is repeated nationally. The Stanhope estate in Ashford, Kent, a mid-century overspill estate, is in the 10% most deprived of neighbourhoods in England. It is immediately adjacent by large houses 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 Phil Hockley, aged 63. “You’ll probably find many people in the new builds never even talk to each other.”
The economic divide is clear: an typical family home sells for about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while on the other side equivalent homes go for about £410,000.
Residents speak of a tangible sense of neglect. “Our neighbourhood is neglected,” stated holistic health worker Susan Riley-Nevers. “In this area our facilities have gradually disappeared, and the majority of the community problems here are to do with financial hardship.”
The increase in these ‘inequality borders’ paints a picture of an increasingly segregated England, where prosperity and need are often uncomfortably in close proximity.
