A Growing ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: How Prosperity and Hardship 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 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 posh-poor divide,” remarked a resident, aged 37. “It’s been like this since I’ve known. I doubt they’ll take it down because I suspect they’ll want to mix with us.”

An Increasingly Common National Picture

Analysis of government figures reveals how deep disparity often exists, sometimes across little more than a few metres of asphalt, a line of hedges or a wall. Decades of austerity and lack of funding mean a majority of local authorities now have a neighbourhood ranking as one of the poorest in the country.

The geographical widening of poverty has led to a significant increase in the number of places where disadvantaged and affluent people find themselves living side by side. In 2019, just 65 of the most deprived areas 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 UK and starkly apparent. The wall transcends being just a metaphorical divide; it creates very real difficulties for everyday life.

• School runs that ought to take a quarter of an hour turn into an hour-long detour.
• Reaching key services like supermarkets, educational facilities and care homes is hindered.
• The area can attract antisocial behaviour, with reports of rubbish being dumped over the wall and related issues.

“You try to maintain a nice house and nice garden, and then you live opposite that,” said one resident, gesturing towards the rusted metal wall.

Community Spirit Against a Backdrop of Hardship

Within Centre4, workers stress that need does not recognise addresses. “Where you live doesn’t necessarily indicate your level of challenge,” said chief executive Tracey Good.

Regardless of ranking in the most deprived 10% for multiple deprivation indicators, the estate boasts a fierce loyalty and sense of togetherness among its residents. By contrast, Scartho ranks among the least deprived 10% overall.

A Similar Story: An Estate in Kent

This pattern is repeated nationally. The Stanhope estate in Kent, a 1960s housing development, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of neighbourhoods in England. It is immediately adjacent by spacious houses built in the early 2000s that sit in the top 10% for job prospects and quality of surroundings.

“They might have larger properties, but here there’s a stronger community,” commented a long-term resident, 63. “It’s likely many people in the new builds don’t even speak to each other.”

The economic gap is clear: an typical three-bedroom house sells for about £275,000 on the estate, while on the other side comparable properties fetch about £410,000.

Residents describe a palpable feeling of neglect. “This part of the community gets ignored,” said holistic health worker Susan. “Over here our amenities have slowly been taken away, and most of the community problems here are related to financial hardship.”

The increase in these ‘deprivation divides’ presents a picture of an increasingly divided society, where prosperity and need are often awkwardly close neighbours.