The Growing ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: How Affluence and Deprivation Are Found Cheek by Jowl in England.
Within a postwar estate known as ‘The Nunny’, inhabitants live in properties only several yards from their more affluent counterparts in nearby Scartho. One 1.8-metre-high wall physically separates the two communities in the town of Grimsby, sealing off paths and streets that once connected them.
“This is the posh-poor divide,” remarked Serenity Colley, 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 mix with us.”
An Increasingly Common Pattern Across the Country
Analysis of official statistics reveals the extent of disparity can run, at times across little more than a few metres of tarmac, a line of hedges or a wall. Years of budget cuts and lack of funding mean a majority of councils now have a neighbourhood ranking as one of the most deprived in the country.
This geographical widening of deprivation has led to a sharp increase in the number of places where deprived and well-off people end up living side by side. In 2019, just 65 of the poorest neighbourhoods adjoined one of the least deprived. That figure rose to 119 in the most recent data.
A Wall That Does More Than Separate Space
At this Lincolnshire site, the gap is the most pronounced in the UK and painfully apparent. The wall transcends being just a symbolic division; it causes very real difficulties for daily routines.
- The school commute that ought to take a quarter of an hour become an hour-long journey.
- Access to important services like grocery stores, schools and employment centres is made more difficult.
- The site often sees antisocial behaviour, with instances of rubbish being dumped over the wall and other problems.
“You try to have a nice house and nice garden, and then you reside facing that,” noted one resident, gesturing towards the rusted metal wall.
Community Spirit Against a Backdrop of Challenges
At a local community centre, staff stress that support transcends addresses. “Your postcode is not a reliable indicator of your personal struggles,” said director Tracey Good.
Regardless of being placed in the most deprived 10% for multiple deprivation indicators, the estate retains a strong sense and feeling of community among its residents. By contrast, Scartho is classified among the least deprived 10% nationally.
Echoes Elsewhere: An Estate in Kent
This phenomenon is repeated across the country. The Stanhope estate in Kent, a 1960s overspill estate, is in the 10% most deprived of neighbourhoods in England. It is closely bordered by spacious houses built in the 2000s that are in the top 10% for employment and quality of surroundings.
“They might have larger properties, but here there’s more community,” commented a long-term resident, aged 63. “You’ll probably find many people in the new builds never even talk to each other.”
The financial divide is clear: an typical family home costs about £275,000 on the estate, while across the divide equivalent homes fetch about £410,000.
Residents speak of a palpable feeling of neglect. “Our neighbourhood gets ignored,” stated holistic health worker Susan Riley-Nevers. “In this area our amenities have gradually disappeared, and most of the issues we face here are to do with poverty.”
The rise in these ‘deprivation divides’ paints a picture of an increasingly divided society, where prosperity and need are often awkwardly close neighbours.