It must be quite common where there's not much love is lost between neighbours.

I don't think that's unreasonable at all, actually. I'd expect liminal spaces, especially entrances, to get a little more attention to their presentation than other places - everybody knows first impressions are important, right?

And even in between counties. I cross the county line between a well-funded suburban county and a dirt-poor rural county occasionally and the road quality is night and day.

The Netherlands is too small to put effort in one particular area. It's like painting with too big of a brush.

If that were true then the street on both sides of the border would be fancy, instead of only the street on one side of it.