The Growing ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: How Prosperity and Deprivation Are Found Cheek by Jowl in Across England.
In a postwar estate known as ‘The Nunny’, inhabitants occupy homes only several yards from their more affluent neighbours in the adjacent Scartho. One 1.8-metre-high wall physically separates the two communities in the town of Grimsby, blocking off paths and streets that once linked them.
“This is the posh-poor divide,” said a resident, 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 Pattern Across the Country
Analysis of government statistics shows the extent of disparity can run, at times over nothing more than a short distance of tarmac, a line of hedges or a barrier. Decades of budget cuts and underinvestment mean a majority of councils now have a neighbourhood ranking as one of the most deprived in the nation.
The spread of poverty has coincided with a significant 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 wealthiest. This number rose to 119 in the latest data.
A Barrier Which Does More Than Separate Space
At this Lincolnshire site, the divide is the biggest in the country and starkly obvious. The barrier is much more than a metaphorical division; it creates very real difficulties for everyday life.
- School runs that ought to take a quarter of an hour turn into an sixty-minute journey.
- Access to key amenities like supermarkets, educational facilities and care homes is made more difficult.
- The area can attract antisocial behaviour, with reports of litter being dumped over the wall and related issues.
“People strive to have a well-kept home and garden, and then you live opposite that,” said one resident, motioning at the rusted metal wall.
Local Bonds Amidst Challenges
Within Centre4, workers stress that support does not recognise postcodes. “Your postcode is not a reliable indicator of your personal struggles,” explained chief executive a community leader.
Despite ranking in the most deprived 10% for multiple deprivation indicators, the estate retains a strong sense and sense of community among its residents. Meanwhile, Scartho ranks among the most prosperous 10% overall.
Echoes Elsewhere: An Estate in Kent
This phenomenon is mirrored nationally. The Stanhope area in Kent, a mid-century housing development, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of areas in the country. It is closely bordered by spacious houses built in the 2000s that are in the top 10% for employment and living environment.
“They might have bigger houses, but here there’s a stronger community,” said Phil Hockley, 63. “It’s likely a lot of people in the new builds never even talk to each other.”
The economic gap is clear: an typical family home sells for about £275,000 on the estate, while on the other side equivalent homes fetch about £410,000.
Residents describe a tangible sense of neglect. “This part of the community gets ignored,” stated holistic health worker Susan. “In this area our facilities have slowly been taken away, and the majority of the issues we face here are to do with poverty.”
The rise in these ‘deprivation divides’ paints a portrait of an ever more segregated England, where wealth and deprivation are frequently awkwardly in close proximity.
