The 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 occupy homes only a few metres from their more affluent counterparts in the adjacent Scartho. A 1.8-metre-high barricade physically separates the two areas in the town of Grimsby, blocking off roads and walkways that once linked them.
“It’s the posh-poor divide,” 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 mix with us.”
An Increasingly Common National Picture
Analysis of official statistics reveals the extent of disparity can run, sometimes over nothing more than a short distance of tarmac, a line of hedges or a wall. Decades of austerity and underinvestment mean a majority of councils now contain a neighbourhood ranking as one of the poorest in the country.
The spread of deprivation has coincided with a sharp increase in the number of locations where disadvantaged and affluent people end up as immediate neighbours. Just a few years ago, just 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods adjoined one of the least deprived. This number rose to 119 in the most recent data.
A Barrier Which Divides More Than Space
In Grimsby, the divide is the biggest in the UK and starkly obvious. The barrier is much more than a symbolic divide; it causes very real problems for everyday life.
- School runs that should take a quarter of an hour become an sixty-minute journey.
- Access to important services like grocery stores, schools and employment centres is made more difficult.
- The area can attract vandalism and loitering, with instances of rubbish being thrown over the wall and related issues.
“People strive to maintain a well-kept home and garden, and then you live opposite that,” said one resident, motioning at the corroded barricade.
Community Spirit Against a Backdrop of Challenges
At Centre4, staff emphasise that need transcends addresses. “Where you live doesn’t necessarily indicate your personal struggles,” said chief executive Tracey Good.
Despite ranking in the lowest 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, Nunsthorpe retains a strong sense and feeling of community among its inhabitants. By contrast, the neighbouring area is classified among the least deprived 10% overall.
A Similar Story: An Estate in Kent
This phenomenon is mirrored nationally. The Stanhope estate in Ashford, Kent, a mid-century housing development, 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 top 10% for job prospects and quality of surroundings.
“They might have bigger houses, but here there’s a stronger community,” said a long-term resident, aged 63. “It’s likely many people in the new builds don’t even speak to each other.”
The financial divide is evident: an typical family home sells for about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while across the divide comparable homes go for about £410,000.
Locals speak of a tangible sense of neglect. “Our neighbourhood is neglected,” stated holistic health worker Susan. “Over here our amenities have slowly been taken away, and most of the issues we face here are to do with poverty.”
The increase in these ‘deprivation divides’ presents a picture of an ever more divided England, where prosperity and deprivation are often uncomfortably close neighbours.
