The Growing ‘Wealth-Poverty Gap’: The Way Prosperity and Hardship Now Sit Cheek by Jowl in Across England.
Within a postwar estate known as ‘The Nunny’, inhabitants live in homes only several yards from their wealthier neighbours in the adjacent Scartho village. A six-foot-tall wall literally separates the two communities in the town of Grimsby, blocking off roads and walkways that once linked them.
“It’s the divide between rich and poor,” remarked Serenity Colley, aged 37. “It has been there for as long as I’ve known. I don’t think they’ll bring it down because I don’t think they’ll want to associate with us.”
An Increasingly Common Pattern Across the Country
Data from government figures shows the extent of disparity often exists, at times across nothing more than a few metres of tarmac, a line of hedges or a barrier. Decades of budget cuts and underinvestment mean a majority of local authorities now contain a neighbourhood classified as one of the poorest in the nation.
This geographical widening of deprivation has led to a significant increase in the number of places where disadvantaged and well-off residents find themselves as immediate neighbours. Just a few years ago, just 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods adjoined one of the least deprived. This number increased to 119 in the most recent data.
A Wall That Does More Than Separate Land
At this Lincolnshire site, the divide is the most pronounced in the UK and starkly obvious. The barrier is much more than a symbolic divide; it creates very real difficulties for everyday life.
- The school commute that ought to take 15-20 minutes become an sixty-minute journey.
- Access to important services like supermarkets, schools and care homes is made more difficult.
- The site can attract antisocial behaviour, with instances of rubbish being thrown 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, gesturing towards the rusted metal wall.
Local Bonds Amidst Hardship
At a local community centre, workers emphasise that support transcends postcodes. “Your postcode doesn’t necessarily indicate your personal struggles,” said chief executive a community leader.
Regardless of ranking in the most deprived 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, the estate boasts a strong sense and feeling of togetherness among its residents. By contrast, Scartho ranks among the least deprived 10% overall.
Echoes Elsewhere: Stanhope in Ashford
This phenomenon is repeated nationally. The Stanhope area in Ashford, Kent, a mid-century overspill estate, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of areas in England. It is immediately adjacent by spacious detached homes built in the 2000s that are in the top 10% for employment and quality of surroundings.
“They may possess larger properties, but here there’s more community,” said Phil Hockley, 63. “You’ll probably find many people in the new builds don’t even speak to each other.”
The financial gap is evident: an typical three-bedroom house sells for about £275,000 on the estate, while across the divide comparable homes go for about £410,000.
Residents speak of a tangible feeling of being overlooked. “This part of the community gets ignored,” stated resident Susan. “Over here our facilities have slowly been taken away, and the majority of the community problems here are to do with poverty.”
The rise in these ‘deprivation divides’ presents a portrait of an ever more segregated England, where wealth and deprivation are frequently awkwardly in close proximity.
