🔗 Share this article The Growing ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: The Way Affluence and Deprivation Are Found Cheek by Jowl in England. Within Nunsthorpe, inhabitants occupy homes only a few metres from their more affluent neighbours in the adjacent Scartho village. A six-foot-tall barricade literally separates the two communities in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, sealing off paths and streets that previously connected them. “It’s the posh-poor divide,” said a resident, aged 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.” A Stark National Picture Analysis of official statistics reveals the extent of inequality often exists, sometimes over nothing more than a short distance of asphalt, a line of hedges or a barrier. Years of budget cuts and underinvestment mean a majority of local authorities now have a locality classified as one of the poorest in the country. This spread of deprivation has coincided with a sharp increase in the number of places where disadvantaged and affluent residents end up as immediate neighbours. Just a few years ago, only 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods adjoined one of the least deprived. This number increased to 119 in the most recent data. A Barrier Which Does More Than Separate Land In Grimsby, the divide is the most pronounced in the UK and starkly apparent. The barrier is much more than a symbolic division; it causes very real difficulties for daily routines. School runs that ought to take a quarter of an hour become an hour-long journey. Access to important amenities like grocery stores, schools and employment centres is made more difficult. The site can attract antisocial behaviour, with instances of rubbish being thrown over the wall and related problems. “People strive to have a well-kept home and garden, and then you live opposite that,” said one resident, motioning at the corroded barricade. Local Bonds Against a Backdrop of Challenges At Centre4, staff emphasise that support does not recognise postcodes. “Your postcode doesn’t necessarily indicate your level of challenge,” explained director Tracey Good. Despite ranking in the most deprived 10% for multiple deprivation indicators, the estate boasts a strong sense and feeling of community among its residents. Meanwhile, the neighbouring area is classified among the least deprived 10% overall. A Similar Story: Stanhope in Ashford This phenomenon is mirrored nationally. The Stanhope estate in Kent, a mid-century overspill estate, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of neighbourhoods in England. It is closely bordered by spacious detached homes built in the early 2000s that are in the wealthiest tenth for employment and quality of surroundings. “They might have bigger houses, 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 average family home sells for about £275,000 on the estate, while across the divide equivalent homes go for about £410,000. Residents describe a palpable feeling of neglect. “This part of the community gets ignored,” said resident Susan Riley-Nevers. “Over here our amenities have slowly been taken away, and the majority of the community problems here are related to financial hardship.” The rise in these ‘inequality borders’ presents a portrait of an increasingly divided England, where prosperity and deprivation are often awkwardly close neighbours.
Within Nunsthorpe, inhabitants occupy homes only a few metres from their more affluent neighbours in the adjacent Scartho village. A six-foot-tall barricade literally separates the two communities in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, sealing off paths and streets that previously connected them. “It’s the posh-poor divide,” said a resident, aged 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.” A Stark National Picture Analysis of official statistics reveals the extent of inequality often exists, sometimes over nothing more than a short distance of asphalt, a line of hedges or a barrier. Years of budget cuts and underinvestment mean a majority of local authorities now have a locality classified as one of the poorest in the country. This spread of deprivation has coincided with a sharp increase in the number of places where disadvantaged and affluent residents end up as immediate neighbours. Just a few years ago, only 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods adjoined one of the least deprived. This number increased to 119 in the most recent data. A Barrier Which Does More Than Separate Land In Grimsby, the divide is the most pronounced in the UK and starkly apparent. The barrier is much more than a symbolic division; it causes very real difficulties for daily routines. School runs that ought to take a quarter of an hour become an hour-long journey. Access to important amenities like grocery stores, schools and employment centres is made more difficult. The site can attract antisocial behaviour, with instances of rubbish being thrown over the wall and related problems. “People strive to have a well-kept home and garden, and then you live opposite that,” said one resident, motioning at the corroded barricade. Local Bonds Against a Backdrop of Challenges At Centre4, staff emphasise that support does not recognise postcodes. “Your postcode doesn’t necessarily indicate your level of challenge,” explained director Tracey Good. Despite ranking in the most deprived 10% for multiple deprivation indicators, the estate boasts a strong sense and feeling of community among its residents. Meanwhile, the neighbouring area is classified among the least deprived 10% overall. A Similar Story: Stanhope in Ashford This phenomenon is mirrored nationally. The Stanhope estate in Kent, a mid-century overspill estate, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of neighbourhoods in England. It is closely bordered by spacious detached homes built in the early 2000s that are in the wealthiest tenth for employment and quality of surroundings. “They might have bigger houses, 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 average family home sells for about £275,000 on the estate, while across the divide equivalent homes go for about £410,000. Residents describe a palpable feeling of neglect. “This part of the community gets ignored,” said resident Susan Riley-Nevers. “Over here our amenities have slowly been taken away, and the majority of the community problems here are related to financial hardship.” The rise in these ‘inequality borders’ presents a portrait of an increasingly divided England, where prosperity and deprivation are often awkwardly close neighbours.