The Rising ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: The Way Prosperity and Deprivation Now Sit Side by Side in England.
Within a postwar estate known as ‘The Nunny’, residents live in properties only a few metres from their more affluent neighbours in nearby Scartho village. A six-foot-tall barricade physically divides the two areas in the town of Grimsby, blocking off roads and walkways that previously connected them.
“This is the divide between rich and poor,” said Serenity Colley, 37. “It has been there since I’ve known. I don’t think they’ll bring it down because I don’t think they’ll want to mix with us.”
An Increasingly Common National Picture
Analysis of government figures reveals how deep disparity can run, sometimes over little more than a short distance of asphalt, a line of hedges or a barrier. Decades of budget cuts and lack of funding have led to a situation where a majority of councils now contain a locality ranking as one of the poorest in the country.
The spread of deprivation has coincided with a significant rise in the number of places where deprived and well-off people find themselves as immediate neighbours. Just a few years ago, only 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods bordered one of the least deprived. That figure increased to 119 in the most recent data.
A Barrier Which Does More Than Separate Land
At this Lincolnshire site, the gap is the most pronounced in the UK and starkly obvious. The barrier is much more than a metaphorical division; it causes tangible difficulties for everyday life.
- School runs that ought to take a quarter of an hour become an sixty-minute detour.
- Access to important amenities like supermarkets, schools and care homes is hindered.
- The site can attract vandalism and loitering, with instances of rubbish being dumped over the wall and related issues.
“People strive to have a well-kept home and garden, and then you reside facing that,” noted one local, motioning at the corroded barricade.
Community Spirit Against a Backdrop of Challenges
Within a local community centre, workers stress that need transcends addresses. “Where you live is not a reliable indicator of your level of challenge,” explained chief executive a community leader.
Despite ranking in the lowest 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, the estate retains a strong sense and sense of togetherness among its residents. By contrast, Scartho ranks among the most prosperous 10% nationally.
A Similar Story: Stanhope in Ashford
This pattern is mirrored nationally. The Stanhope area in Ashford, Kent, a mid-century housing development, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of areas in England. It is immediately adjacent by spacious houses built in the 2000s that are in the wealthiest tenth for employment and living environment.
“They may possess bigger houses, but here there’s a stronger community,” said Phil Hockley, 63. “It’s likely a lot of people over there don’t even speak to each other.”
The economic divide is evident: an average three-bedroom house costs about £275,000 on the estate, while across the divide equivalent properties go for about £410,000.
Residents speak of a palpable feeling of being overlooked. “This part of the community gets ignored,” said resident Susan Riley-Nevers. “In this area our facilities have gradually disappeared, and the majority of the issues we face here are to do with poverty.”
The increase in these ‘inequality borders’ presents a portrait of an ever more segregated society, where prosperity and deprivation are often uncomfortably in close proximity.