A Growing ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: How Prosperity and Deprivation Now Sit Cheek by Jowl in Across England.

Within Nunsthorpe, inhabitants occupy homes just several yards from their more affluent neighbours in the adjacent Scartho village. One six-foot-tall wall literally separates 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,” said a resident, 37. “It has been there since I’ve known. I doubt they’ll bring it down because I don’t think they’ll want to associate with us.”

An Increasingly Common Pattern Across the Country

Analysis of official statistics shows how deep disparity often exists, sometimes over little more than a few metres of asphalt, a line of hedges or a barrier. Decades of austerity and underinvestment have led to a situation where almost two-thirds of councils now contain a locality ranking as one of the poorest in the country.

This geographical widening of poverty has coincided with a significant rise in the number of places where disadvantaged and affluent people end up living side by side. In 2019, just 65 of the poorest areas bordered one of the wealthiest. This number rose to 119 in the most recent data.

A Wall That Does More Than Separate Land

In Grimsby, the divide is the most pronounced in the country and starkly apparent. The wall transcends being just a symbolic division; it causes tangible problems for everyday life.

• The school commute that ought to take a quarter of an hour become an hour-long journey.
• Reaching important services like supermarkets, educational facilities and employment centres is made more difficult.
• The site can attract vandalism and loitering, with instances of litter being thrown over the wall and other issues.

“You try to maintain a nice house and nice garden, and then you reside facing that,” said one resident, motioning at the rusted metal wall.

Community Spirit Against a Backdrop of Challenges

At a local community centre, staff emphasise that support transcends addresses. “Your postcode doesn’t necessarily indicate your level of challenge,” said director a community leader.

Regardless of being placed in the most deprived 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, the estate boasts a strong sense and feeling of togetherness among its residents. Meanwhile, the neighbouring area is classified among the most prosperous 10% overall.

A Similar Story: An Estate in Kent

This phenomenon is repeated across the country. The Stanhope area in Ashford, Kent, a 1960s overspill estate, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of neighbourhoods in the country. It is immediately adjacent by spacious detached homes built in the 2000s that sit in the top 10% for employment and quality of surroundings.

“They might have larger properties, but here there’s a stronger community,” said a long-term resident, aged 63. “You’ll probably find a lot of people in the new builds never even talk to each other.”

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

Residents describe a palpable feeling of being overlooked. “Our neighbourhood is neglected,” stated resident Susan Riley-Nevers. “Over here our facilities have gradually disappeared, and most of the community problems here are related to poverty.”

The increase in these ‘inequality borders’ paints a picture of an ever more divided England, where wealth and deprivation are frequently awkwardly close neighbours.