A Growing ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: How Prosperity and Hardship Now Sit Side by Side in England.
Within a postwar estate known as ‘The Nunny’, residents live in homes just a few metres from their wealthier counterparts in the adjacent Scartho. One 1.8-metre-high wall literally separates the two areas in the town of Grimsby, blocking off roads and walkways that once connected them.
“This is the divide between rich and poor,” said Serenity Colley, aged 37. “It has been there for as long as I’ve known. I don’t think they’ll take it down because I don’t think they’ll want to associate with us.”
A Stark Pattern Across the Country
Data from official figures shows how deep disparity can run, sometimes across nothing more than a short distance of tarmac, a hedge row or a wall. Decades of budget cuts and underinvestment have led to a situation where a majority of local authorities now contain a locality classified as one of the most deprived in the nation.
This geographical widening of deprivation has coincided with a significant increase in the number of locations where deprived and affluent residents find themselves living side by side. Just a few years ago, just 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods bordered one of the least deprived. This number increased to 119 in the latest data.
A Barrier Which Does More Than Separate Space
At this Lincolnshire site, the gap is the biggest in the country and starkly apparent. The wall is much more than a metaphorical divide; it causes very real problems for everyday life.
- School runs that should take a quarter of an hour become an hour-long detour.
- Reaching key amenities like supermarkets, schools and care homes is made more difficult.
- The site can attract vandalism and loitering, with instances of rubbish being dumped over the wall and other problems.
“People strive to maintain a nice house and nice garden, and then you reside facing that,” noted one resident, motioning at the rusted metal wall.
Local Bonds Against a Backdrop of Challenges
Within a local community centre, workers stress that need does not recognise addresses. “Your postcode doesn’t necessarily indicate your personal struggles,” explained director Tracey Good.
Regardless of being placed in the lowest 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, the estate boasts a strong sense and sense of togetherness among its residents. By contrast, the neighbouring area is classified among the least deprived 10% overall.
Echoes Elsewhere: Stanhope in Ashford
This pattern is repeated across the country. The Stanhope estate in Kent, a 1960s overspill estate, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of areas in England. It is closely bordered by large houses built in the early 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,” commented a long-term resident, aged 63. “It’s likely many people in the new builds don’t even speak to each other.”
The financial gap is clear: an typical three-bedroom house sells for about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while across the divide comparable properties go for about £410,000.
Residents describe a palpable feeling of neglect. “This part of the community is neglected,” stated holistic health worker Susan. “In this area our amenities have slowly been taken away, and the majority of the issues we face here are to do with financial hardship.”
The increase in these ‘deprivation divides’ paints a picture of an increasingly divided society, where prosperity and need are frequently uncomfortably in close proximity.