Within Nunsthorpe, inhabitants occupy homes just several yards from their more affluent counterparts in the adjacent Scartho village. One six-foot-tall barricade literally separates the two areas in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, sealing off roads and walkways that once linked them.
“This is the divide between rich and poor,” said a resident, aged 37. “It has been there since I’ve known. I doubt they’ll take it down because I suspect they’ll want to mix with us.”
Data from government figures reveals how deep disparity often exists, at times over nothing more than a short distance of asphalt, a hedge row or a barrier. Decades of austerity and underinvestment mean almost two-thirds of local authorities now have a neighbourhood classified as one of the most deprived in the country.
This spread of poverty has led to a significant rise in the quantity of places where deprived and well-off residents find themselves as immediate neighbours. In 2019, just 65 of the poorest neighbourhoods bordered one of the wealthiest. This number increased to 119 in the latest data.
In Grimsby, the gap is the biggest in the UK and painfully obvious. The wall transcends being just a symbolic divide; it creates very real difficulties for everyday life.
“You try to have a well-kept home and garden, and then you live opposite that,” said one resident, motioning at the rusted metal wall.
Within a local community centre, workers emphasise that support does not recognise postcodes. “Your postcode is not a reliable indicator of your level of challenge,” explained director Tracey Good.
Despite ranking in the most deprived 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, the estate boasts a strong sense and sense of togetherness among its residents. Meanwhile, the neighbouring area ranks among the least deprived 10% nationally.
This phenomenon is repeated nationally. The Stanhope estate in Ashford, Kent, a mid-century overspill estate, is in the most disadvantaged tenth of neighbourhoods in the country. It is closely bordered by spacious detached homes built in the 2000s that sit in the top 10% for employment and quality of surroundings.
“They might have larger properties, but here there’s more community,” said a long-term resident, aged 63. “It’s likely a lot of people over there don’t even speak to each other.”
The financial gap is evident: an typical family home sells for about £275,000 on the estate, while across the divide comparable homes go for about £410,000.
Residents speak of a tangible sense of being overlooked. “Our neighbourhood gets ignored,” stated holistic health worker Susan Riley-Nevers. “In this area our amenities have slowly been taken away, and the majority of the issues we face here are related to financial hardship.”
The rise in these ‘inequality borders’ presents a portrait of an increasingly divided England, where wealth and deprivation are frequently awkwardly close neighbours.
Elena Vance is a digital strategist with over a decade of experience in UK business consulting, specializing in technology-driven growth solutions.