Within Nunsthorpe, residents live in properties only several yards from their wealthier counterparts in the adjacent Scartho village. One six-foot-tall barricade physically separates the two communities in the town of Grimsby, blocking off roads and walkways that previously linked them.
“It’s the posh-poor divide,” said 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 associate with us.”
Analysis of government statistics shows how deep inequality can run, sometimes across nothing more than a few metres of tarmac, a hedge row or a barrier. Decades of budget cuts and underinvestment have led to a situation where a majority of councils now contain a neighbourhood classified as one of the most deprived in the nation.
The geographical widening of deprivation has led to a sharp increase in the number of locations where disadvantaged 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 increased to 119 in the latest data.
In Grimsby, the divide is the biggest in the UK and starkly apparent. The wall transcends being just a metaphorical divide; it creates tangible difficulties for daily routines.
“You try to have a nice house and nice garden, and then you reside facing that,” said one local, motioning at the rusted metal wall.
Within a local community centre, staff emphasise that support transcends postcodes. “Where you live is not a reliable indicator of your level of challenge,” said director Tracey Good.
Regardless of ranking in the most deprived 10% for income, employment, education, health and crime, Nunsthorpe boasts a fierce loyalty and feeling of togetherness among its inhabitants. Meanwhile, Scartho is classified among the most prosperous 10% nationally.
This pattern is repeated nationally. The Stanhope estate in Ashford, Kent, a 1960s overspill estate, is in the 10% most deprived of areas in the country. It is immediately adjacent by spacious detached homes built in the early 2000s that sit in the top 10% for employment and living environment.
“They might have bigger houses, but here there’s more community,” commented Phil Hockley, 63. “It’s likely a lot of people over there never even talk to each other.”
The economic gap is evident: an typical three-bedroom house costs about £275,000 on the Stanhope estate, while across the divide equivalent homes fetch about £410,000.
Residents describe a tangible sense of neglect. “This part of the community is neglected,” stated holistic health worker Susan Riley-Nevers. “In this area our facilities have slowly been taken away, and most of the community problems here are related to financial hardship.”
The rise in these ‘deprivation divides’ presents a portrait of an increasingly divided society, where wealth and deprivation are frequently uncomfortably in close proximity.
Elena Hartwell is a multidisciplinary artist and educator passionate about fostering creative communities in London.