A Rising ‘Posh-Poor Divide’: How Affluence and Deprivation Now Sit Cheek by Jowl in England.

In Nunsthorpe, inhabitants live in properties only several yards from their more affluent counterparts in the adjacent Scartho village. One 1.8-metre-high barricade literally divides the two areas in the town of Grimsby, blocking off paths and streets that previously connected them.

“It’s the posh-poor divide,” said Serenity Colley, 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 mix with us.”

A Stark Pattern Across the Country

Data from official figures reveals the extent of disparity can run, sometimes over little more than a short distance of asphalt, a line of hedges or a barrier. Years of budget cuts and underinvestment mean almost two-thirds of councils now have a locality ranking as one of the most deprived in the country.

The spread of deprivation has coincided with a sharp increase in the quantity of places where deprived and affluent residents find themselves as immediate neighbours. In 2019, just 65 of the most deprived neighbourhoods bordered one of the least deprived. That figure rose to 119 in the most recent data.

A Barrier Which Does More Than Separate Space

In Grimsby, the divide is the most pronounced in the UK and painfully obvious. The barrier transcends being just a metaphorical divide; it creates tangible problems for everyday life.

• School runs that should take a quarter of an hour become an hour-long journey.
• Reaching important services like grocery stores, schools and employment centres is made more difficult.
• The site can attract vandalism and loitering, with reports of litter being thrown over the wall and related issues.

“People strive to have a nice house and nice garden, and then you live opposite that,” said one resident, motioning at the rusted barricade.

Community Spirit Amidst Hardship

Within a local community centre, staff stress that need does not recognise postcodes. “Where you live is not a reliable indicator of your personal struggles,” said director a community leader.

Despite being placed in the lowest 10% for multiple deprivation indicators, the estate retains a strong sense and feeling of togetherness among its residents. Meanwhile, Scartho is classified among the most prosperous 10% nationally.

Echoes Elsewhere: Stanhope in Ashford

This pattern is mirrored across the country. The Stanhope estate in Ashford, Kent, a mid-century housing development, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of neighbourhoods in the country. It is immediately adjacent by spacious houses built in the early 2000s that sit in the wealthiest tenth for job prospects and quality of surroundings.

“They may possess larger properties, but here there’s more community,” said a long-term resident, aged 63. “You’ll probably find many people over there don’t even speak to each other.”

The financial gap is evident: an average family home costs about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while on the other side equivalent homes fetch about £410,000.

Locals speak of a tangible feeling of neglect. “This part of the community is neglected,” said holistic health worker Susan Riley-Nevers. “In this area our facilities have slowly been taken away, and the majority of the issues we face here are to do with poverty.”

The rise in these ‘deprivation divides’ paints a portrait of an increasingly segregated society, where prosperity and deprivation are frequently awkwardly in close proximity.