Landlords and tenants who have been defrauded by a rogue letting agent say a government-approved scheme set up to protect them is useless.

The Property Redress Scheme (PRS) does not take effective action, they say.
The PRS said it was not a regulator and could only help when an agent acted legally.
By law, letting agents cannot trade unless they are a member of one of three schemes, including the Property Redress Scheme.
However, dozens of customers of one rogue agent in London said when things went wrong, victims were not protected, a BBC You and Yours investigation has found.
Doni Soeyono bought a small two bedroom terrace house in Stanley Road in Ilford, east London 18 months ago as a rental property.
He signed up with Carter Stones, just round the corner in Connaught Road, which promised him a couple would rent the house for about £1,300 a month.
But in reality the couple Carter Stones claimed were renting the property did not live there.
Instead up to eight other people do, none with a contract. Mr Soeyono has not received any rent for six months.
He managed to get inside the house in the autumn and took pictures showing the sitting room with several beds.
When I went to the property with Mr Soeyono, we were shouted at by two women, who told us to go away. Then they left and walked down the street.
Mr Soeyono says he's seen one of the women a number of times and believes she lives in the property, helping to operate a subletting ring involving about 16 people.
But the owner says he has not had any useful response from Carter Stones.
Several landlords have contacted You and Yours complaining about unpaid rent, or legal documentation, and claim multiple people are living in the properties without any right to be there.
For more than 30 years, Teresa's family have owned a two bedroom terraced house in nearby St Mary's Road, Ilford.
She signed a management agreement with Carter Stones and was assured that a couple would be living in her house.
"Alarm bells rang when the council contacted me to ask who was responsible for the council tax at the house," Teresa said.
"They said many people were living in the house, but not the couple on the tenancy agreement."
Teresa says the people we met coming out of Mr Soeyono's house are also organising the subletting not only of her house but also her garage.
"I saw curtains up in the garage window, and the door was blacked out, but they would not let me in.
"Carter Stones declined all responsibility for this. They were not transferring me the rent and I couldn't get any sense out of them, even after telephoning them on a daily basis," she told me.
I tried to talk to Carter Stones, but while I could see two people in their office, each time I knocked they hid behind the door.
Since 2014 it has been a legal requirement for letting agents to be a member of one of three government-approved dispute resolution schemes: the Property Redress Scheme, the Property Ombudsman or the Ombudsman Service.
The Property Redress scheme costs £200 to join. It is run by the insurance company Hamilton Frazer, and unlike the two other organisations it is run for profit.
Carter Stones used to be a member of the PRS.
Last year the PRS upheld four complaints against Carter Stones but the company failed to pay compensation of £15,406. The PRS cannot enforce that order - the only redress it has is to expel rogue traders.
So in March 2016 the PRS expelled Carter Stones, making it illegal for the firm to continue trading. When Carter Stones stayed in business, Trading Standards became involved.
Redbridge Trading Standards then fined Carter Stones £5,000, but the company did not pay, and continued to trade. Trading Standards is still investigating.
In November 2016, seven months after Carter Stones was expelled from the scheme, Shakeel Ahmed paid £2,350 as a deposit to secure a flat to rent.
Even though the flat fell through, Carter Stones kept his money.
Several other prospective tenants have since contacted me with the same story.
When the landlords and prospective tenants complained to the PRS, they were told that as Carter Stones had been expelled from the scheme, nothing could be done.
"The PRS is pretty much useless," Mr Soeyono told me.
Teresa said: "The PRS is not effective at all, absolutely not in the case of a rogue agent. They're just using the scheme for their benefit."
The PRS does not require letting agents to sign up to a code of conduct, and does not publish a list of companies that have been expelled on its website.
Paul Shamplina, who is on the PRS advisory council, said that none of the redress schemes are regulators, but are "escalated complaint handling schemes put in place to prevent service related complaints from having to be issued in the court by consumers.
"This allows them access to a much quicker and cost effective remedy to resolve matters with property agents."
However, he said that when companies do flout the law, redress schemes are powerless, and complainants must rely on Trading Standards.
You can hear more about this story on You and Yours on BBC Radio 4 on Monday at 12:150 GMT.


Campaigners trying to keep child heart surgery in Leeds have won a legal challenge.

The High Court has ruled the consultation over changes to children's heart surgery in England and Wales was flawed.
Legal action was brought by campaigners trying to save operations at Leeds General Infirmary but the ruling could affect other units.
The team behind the NHS review said quashing its plans would be unfair.
The High Court judge backed claims by The Save our Surgery group (SOS) that the consultation process was unfair and legally flawed.
Sharon Cheng, from SOS, said the group was "extremely pleased and relieved".
She said: "Winning this case in the High Court proves once and for all that the supposed consultation was a rubber-stamping exercise conducted with an outcome in mind, with clinicians, MPs and patients fooled into feeling they had influence.
"This action was taken by parents and clinicians who simply could not stand by and watch a clear injustice being done."
The Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts (JCPCT) decided child heart surgery should also end at Leicester's Glenfield Hospital and London's Royal Brompton so care could be concentrated at fewer sites to improve standards.
The High Court ruling could also affect the future of surgery at those units.
Sir Neil McKay, chairman of the JCPCT, said he was disappointed at the ruling.
In a statement he said: "The pressing need to reform children's heart services is long overdue and experts have cautioned that further delay in achieving the necessary change would be a major setback in improving outcomes for children with heart disease.
"The consultation - which we undertook with an honest and open mind - was the largest carried out by the NHS and respondents were staunch in their support of the need for change.
"There is nothing in the court's judgment that supports the claimant's accusations the consultation was a 'rubber stamping' exercise.
"The judge in fact found that this was a comprehensive consultation, lasting a matter of months and prompting 77,000 responses. Thought and care was given to the consultation process both as to its content and implementation.
By Nick TriggleHealth correspondent, BBC News
The verdict over child heart surgery is just the latest twist in a long-running fight over the future of this complex area of care.
The debate has been raging for over a decade and has already been subject to legal challenges - a perfect illustration of why changing the NHS remains an incredibly tricky task.
The medical profession is united in the belief that expert care needs to be done at fewer sites.
Child heart surgery is the prime example of that - it is one of the most complex procedures undertaken by the NHS.
To provide a uniformly high quality and safe service operations in such fields need to be concentrated, it has been argued. Evidence shows this helps doctors improve skills and share expertise.
But the push for change is not just confined to child heart surgery. Similar debates are going on over everything from A&E units to stroke care.
The problem is change comes at a price: the loss of services from much-loved local hospitals.
The strength of feeling in Leeds - and in other places that face losing services for that matter - is testament to that.
These are difficult decisions and with money getting ever tighter in the health service expect more disputes in the future.
"We need to understand whether the court will quash the JCPCT's decision in its entirety, as the claimant seeks, or whether it will impose a less draconian remedy.
"We are making representations to the court that a quashing of the decision would be unfair and unnecessary.
"Once we have the court's judgment on this point we will strongly consider an appeal if we believe that this would enable us to reach a final decision on reconfiguring children's heart services in a reasonable timeframe."
The Prime Minister later said the choices on which cities would be centres for children's heart surgery must be based on clinical decisions.
David Cameron said the government would now have to study the High Court decision but the final "difficult choices" had to be fair and based on medical needs.
As part of the NHS review process, each hospital was visited by a panel of experts and given a score based on its performance.
SOS told the High Court the JCPCT had produced "sub-scores" measuring the quality of service under various criteria but had not disclosed them to consultees.
In her judgment, Mrs Justice Nicola Davies said: "As the scores were relevant to the assessment, the breakdown of the scoring should have been disclosed to the centres whether or not the JCPCT proposed to look at it.
"If there is a public law duty to make information available to a consultee, disclosure cannot be denied simply because one party does not wish to look at that information."
The judge said a further court hearing would be held on 27 March to determine what the "remedy" would be following her ruling.
This could lead to the whole process being started again - or it could just mean the review team take a fresh look at the decision over Leeds.
An independent review of the NHS decision is also expected to report back to the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt at the end of the month.
Nearly 600,000 people signed a petition against the decision to end surgery at the unit in Leeds, which treats children from across Yorkshire and the Humber region.
If the plan went ahead, children would instead have to travel to Newcastle or Liverpool for operations.


Americans will have just three big companies to choose their health insurance from rather than five if the latest deals get the go ahead.

US healthcare firm Anthem said it would pay $54bn (Â£35bn) to buy smaller rival Cigna in a move aimed at slashing costs.
The biggest healthcare insurer in the US will be created by the historic deal, the largest in the sector.
The tie-up comes weeks after Aetna said it would buy rival Humana for $37bn.
If they are approved by regulators, the two mega-deals would transform the US healthcare industry, consolidating the country's five biggest health insurers to just three, including UnitedHealth.
Forrester analyst Alex Cullen said the deals are being driven by the "huge pressure" on healthcare firms to reduce costs.
"The landscape has changed completely. Firms are now competing to be the 'Amazon' of the healthcare sector. It's a much more consumer-orientated landscape, " he said.
The deal frenzy comes in the wake of rapid change, largely linked to "Obamacare" - President Obama's Affordable Care Act.
The 2010 law was aimed at extending health insurance care to all Americans, including those not covered by their employers, as well as the poor and the elderly.
But the conditions it has imposed on insurance firms, such as banning them from denying health coverage to people with pre-existing health conditions and allowing young people to remain on their parents' plans until the age of 26, is forcing them to become more efficient.
The law has also resulted in marketplaces - with websites akin to online travel and shopping sites - where individuals can compare prices as they shop for coverage, which have also added to pressure to minimise costs.
Merging will give the firms better negotiating powers with drug companies, but critics say the smaller number of providers mean that consumers could end up paying more.
"The business motives are relatively obvious, but we don't know yet if it's good for consumers," said Mr Cullen.
The US spent $2.5 trillion - or 17.4% of GDP - on health care in 2013, according to official figures. Per capita the figure has risen from $4,129 in 2000 to $7,826 in 2013.


China has asked Vietnam to investigate reports that a Chinese visitor's passport was handed back with obscenities written on two pages.

Pictures show a four-letter word written on the pages that contain a map including China's "nine-dash line".
The line marks China's claim to territories in the South China Sea.
Those claims, which overlap with Vietnam's, were recently rejected by an international tribunal.
The tourist, surnamed Zhong and from China's Guangdong province was entering Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City. She told local media that she was "very disappointed at the personal qualities of Vietnamese officials".
The Chinese consulate in Ho Chi Minh City said in a statement the act was "shameless and cowardly", adding that it had "stained the dignity of both China and its nationals".
China has asked Vietnam to investigate the incident and "seriously punish" those responsible for it, the statement said. An investigation is to be conducted, according to Vietnamese officials.
New passports were issued by Beijing in 2012 with revised maps to include the "nine-dash line", which China uses to demarcate its territorial claims.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea, including reefs and islands that are also claimed by other countries, and has controversially been engaging in island-building and naval patrols.
It has said it does not recognise an international tribunal ruling in July that said its claims had no legal basis.
Vietnamese border officials announced earlier this month that they were refusing to stamp the new passports, saying Chinese visitors would be issued with a separate on-arrival visa instead.
"By issuing separate visas, Vietnamese authorities can avoid directly stamping the passport, thus demonstrating Vietnam's stance of not recognising the nine-dash line in any form," the vice-chairman of Quang Ning province's People's Council, Mr Nguyen Xuan Ky told news outlet Tuoi Tre.
Customs officers at Vietnam's Da Nang airport have reportedly also confiscated maps featuring the nine-dash line from Chinese passengers.
A provincial Vietnamese television station stopped airing Shanghai Bund, a Chinese remake of a Hong Kong series after the show's lead actor voiced his support for Beijing's claims in the South China Sea.
Some 20 people were also detained in Hanoi in July while protesting against China's rejection of the tribunal decision.


The BBC could be prosecuted in Thailand if a profile it published of the new king is found in breach of lese majeste laws, the prime minister has said.

"As they have an office in Thailand and Thai reporters work there they must be prosecuted when they violate Thai law," Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters.
The BBC Thai-language website published the article last week after King Maha Vajiralongkorn ascended the throne.
The BBC has yet to be told if formal charges have been laid against it.
"BBC Thai was established to bring impartial, independent and accurate news to a country where the media faces restrictions, and we are confident that this article adheres to the BBC's editorial principles," a BBC spokesperson said.
Police have visited the BBC's Bangkok office as part of their investigation. It began after complaints about the article - which was published in the UK and has since been blocked online in Thailand - by royalists who accuse the BBC of defaming the king.
Profile: Thailand's new king
Thai crown prince proclaimed new king
Thailand's lese majeste laws explained
At the weekend, an opponent of Thailand's military-backed government was arrested after sharing the profile on his Facebook page.
He is thought to be the first person charged with defaming the monarchy since the new king succeeded his father.
Human rights groups accuse the military-backed government of using the royal defamation law as a way of cracking down on opponents.
King Vajiralongkorn's father, the revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, died on 13 October at the age of 88 after seven decades on the throne.


Cardiff Central MP Jo Stevens has said she is backing Owen Smith for Labour leader.

The shadow minister for justice had been critical of moves against current leader Jeremy Corbyn.
But she now says it has become "painfully obvious" Labour is unable even to fulfil the basic operation of being official opposition.
She said Mr Smith was the "best candidate" to "unite our party and win the next general election".
Mr Smith was due to launch his leadership campaign on Friday but postponed the event in the wake of the attack in Nice.
Ms Stevens told BBC Wales in June that a vote of no-confidence in Jeremy Corbyn was "self-indulgent". She has not resigned from her job as a shadow minister.
But in an email to party members Ms Stevens said that during the last two weeks "it has become painfully obvious that we have been unable even to fulfil the very basic, day-to-day operation as the official opposition in Parliament."
She said: "This, at a time when the country is looking to us to show strong leadership, direction and protection for all our citizens as the discussions and decisions about leaving the EU start, is heart breaking.
"We cannot present ourselves as a government in waiting without leadership and a leadership team that commands the respect and support not only of members, elected representatives and affiliates, but Labour voters and potential Labour voters too."
Ms Stevens said: "I believe that Owen, who I have known and worked closely with for some years, is the best candidate to provide that leadership, respect and support not only of members, but elected representatives, affiliates, Labour voters and potential Labour voters, to unite our party and win the next general election."
Ms Stevens, who did not nominate Mr Corbyn in the leadership contest of 2015, said it is "absolutely right" that the current leader should be on the ballot paper.


A Guernsey history group has explored a World War II German bunker believed to have been untouched since 1947.

Festung Guernsey entered the structure at Cobo in January 2012 and were able to locate part of a weapon mount.
The bunker on the west coast of the island was found to be flooded and empty of any other equipment, although some stencils and fittings were found.
Ian Brehaut, of Festung Guernsey, said: "As yet we've never really found an Aladdin's Cave."
He said of the find at Cobo: "It's that excitement of opening up a bunker you know nobody's been in and there's the possibility of finding little bits and pieces."
Mr Brehaut said the bunker yielded a part of a barrel adapter of a machine gun that had once been mounted there.
He said the original structure had "a large armoured turret" at the front of the bunker with two heavy machine guns attached, and weighed in the region of 47 tonnes.
This was destroyed by scrap metal merchants after the war ended.
Mr Brehaut said Festung Guernsey had a similar gun mount on which the piece that was found could be displayed.
He said this may eventually end up on display in an identical bunker at Fort Hommet.
Festung Guernsey has documented a number of World War II fortifications around Guernsey.
Mr Brehaut said: "We're running out of sites to do, but there are one or two that still haven't been opened, so we'll wait and see."


Two teachers who had sex in a school office in Swansea have been struck off.

A tryst between Bethan Thomas and head Graham Daniels came to light after a pupil filmed outside the door at Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg in Bryn Tawe and posted it online.
Both teachers resigned from their jobs.
A fitness to practice hearing of the Education Workforce Council in Cardiff ruled their conduct was unprofessional, calling it "reckless", and struck them off for three years.
"These were serious allegations which impact on public confidence in the profession," said panel chairwoman Jacquie Turnbull.
"Their conduct was so serious that it is fundamentally incompatible with that of a registered person. It was an abuse of their position of trust. Their behaviour was reckless."
They will not be allowed to apply to re-register for three years.
Mr Daniels told the hearing that he deeply regretted his actions, adding: "It is something I am completely ashamed of."
Former deputy head and chemistry teacher Miss Thomas said: "My behaviour fell short of the standards expected."
A 34-second video clip, containing "sexual noises" coming from the headmaster's office, was posted on YouTube.
The disciplinary panel ruled that the pair had taken part in a sexual act in a school office, that they exposed pupils to the behaviour which was recorded by a pupil and uploaded to social media sites and that they took part in sexual acts or inappropriate behaviour on school premises between May 2013 and April 2014 which was witnessed by another member of staff.
Heini Gruffydd, the chairman of governors, told the hearing he considered both teachers to be outstanding.
He said the governors welcomed their decisions to resign from their posts, but felt they both could have a future in teaching.
Heather Lewis, the head teacher of Ysgol y Strade in Llanelli, told the hearing that she has employed Miss Thomas on a temporary basis since 2014.
She added that the governing body would like to consider offering her a permanent position pending the outcome of this hearing.


Vince Cable has admitted the government will not make any move towards a graduate tax to fund universities.

Tory and Lib Dem members are to receive an e-mail explaining the decision in a move that will be seen as preparing the ground for a hike in tuition fees.
Lord Browne's review of fees in England is expected to recommend more than doubling fees to about £7,000 a year.
The business secretary says he is still committed to a "progressive" element within the final fees package.
The Liberal Youth group immediately called on the party's MPs to reject any fee increase.
The National Union of Students (NUS) says it is an "insult to the intelligence" to try to "re-brand" an increase in fees as "progressive".
At the general election, Lib Dem MPs, including party leader Nick Clegg, signed personal pledges that they would vote against any increase in tuition fees.
Now they face the prospect of a major U-turn if the coalition government accepts recommendations for a sharp increase in fees.
There were immediate signs of grassroots opposition to such a change of policy.
The Liberal Youth group says that its supporters will lobby against any fee rise and warned that it would expect Lib Dem MPs to rebel against any attempt to push such a fee hike through Parliament.
Lord Browne's report on university funding is expected to be published on Tuesday.
There are already expectations that it will recommend allowing fees to rise from the current £3,290 per year to £7,000 or more.
The repayments on loans to cover these fees are set to be charged at a higher interest rate than at present - with the expectation that high-earning graduates could be charged at an even higher interest rate.
The Liberal Democrats are pre-empting the report by highlighting such "progressive" measures - in which repayments on loans will be more expensive for graduates in higher-paid jobs.
"I am entirely committed to a progressive system of graduate contributions, the details of which we will be able to confirm shortly," says Mr Cable in his letter.
But he accepts that a graduate tax, which Mr Cable had raised as an alternative funding mechanism but the Tories have always been against, has been effectively ruled out.
"A 'pure' graduate tax - is not the way forward. While it is superficially attractive, an additional tax on graduates fails both the tests of fairness and deficit reduction," he has written in an e-mail sent to Liberal Democrat and Conservative members.
Mr Cable will want to dampen worries within his own party that the coalition government is about to move directly against a key election promise.
Martin Shapland, chair of Liberal Youth, says that any attempt to raise fees would be "against everything the party stood for in the election".
He said that he did not think such a switch in direction would be accepted by the party's MPs.
NUS president Aaron Porter said if the Liberal Democrats were about to attempt such a policy reversal it would represent "an absolute betrayal of the electorate to abandon one of their most popular flagship policies and to sell students out in the process".
"There is nothing fair about extending top-up fees further still and doubling tuition debt. It would be an insult to the intelligence of students and their families to attempt to re-brand the regressive and unpopular top-up fee system,"said Mr Porter.
There have been intense political negotiations around the review of student fees.
Universities, which already face a reduction in budget in the forthcoming spending review, say they are in urgent need of extra funding.
But increasing fees threatens to be a major problem for the Liberal Democrats, who made their opposition to higher fees a flagship election issue.
It will also raise sensitivities for the Conservatives of another squeeze on the middle classes, with the prospect of a three-year degree costing £21,000 or more, plus higher interest repayments on student debt.


The Conservatives have lost overall control of Warwickshire County Council with the Tory leader losing his seat to the Greens.

Alan Farnell received 748 votes, behind Keith Kondakor's 1,032 votes in the Weddington seat in Nuneaton.
Mr Kondakor, a borough councillor for the past year, said the result was "still sinking in".
Labour have gained 10 seats, taking their total to 22. The Conservatives had 38 but now hold only 26.
Mr Farnell said he had lost his seat because "that's democracy, and you can't knock democracy".
He said that one day he might "fight again".
The Liberal Democrats lost two of their 11 seats.
By Sian GrzeszczykBBC Coventry & Warwickshire political reporter
The biggest upset came for the Conservative leader. Not only did his party lose their majority, but he lost his own seat to the Green Party.
Alan Farnell has been a councillor since 1989 and Conservative leader since 2004. He's been leader of the council for the last four years. It's unclear whether we'll now see some interesting alliances formed.
Could the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and Independents form a coalition? Would Labour consider teaming up with the Liberal Democrats? Negotiations between parties are no doubt under way.
What is interesting is the picture in places like North Warwickshire, a marginal constituency for the Conservatives with a majority of just 54 votes. With three Labour gains from the Conservatives here, that would have translated badly for the Conservatives if this had been a general election.
Warwickshire council results
The Conservatives now hold 26 seats, Labour have 22, the Lib Dems have nine, the Greens have two and there are three independents.
The deputy Conservative leader of Warwickshire Council, Bob Stevens, held his seat in Feldon with 1,335 votes.
The Green party took the Labour seat of Leamington Brunswick, with Jonathan Chilvers receiving 1,156 votes.
These are the first Green Party seats for Warwickshire Council.
On winning his poll, Mr Kondakor said: "There are all sorts of challenges, particularly with the cuts to the county council.
"The austerity has been dreadful. The county council faces a whole load of dreadful decisions based upon the government continuously cutting the budget to the county council."
Referring to the changes in Weddington, Marcus Jones, Conservative MP for Nuneaton, said: "I think it wasn't totally unexpected.
"I think we expected we were going to have a very difficult time and that's turned out to be the case."
Nadim Zahawi, Stratford's Conservative MP, said it was "disappointing" the council leader had been unseated but added "we will fight on".
Councillor June Tandy, Labour group leader, said she could "categorically rule out any formal coalition" between Labour and any other group but said it was "obvious" there would be inter-party talks.


Nominations have now closed for the 2015 general election on 7 May.

A total of 138 candidates are standing in 18 constituencies across Northern Ireland.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) are standing in 16 constituencies while the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is standing in 15.
As part of an electoral deal in North and East Belfast, the UUP are supporting the DUP.
In Fermanagh and South Tyrone and in Newry and Armagh the DUP are backing the UUP candidate.
Sinn FÃ©in, the SDLP and the Alliance Party are standing in all 18 constituencies.
The Green Party is standing five candidates and UKIP is running in 10 seats.
Seven Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) candidates have been selected.
The Conservative Party is running in 16 seats except North Belfast and Fermanagh and South Tyrone.
The Workers Party is fielding candidates in five constituencies.
People Before Profit have fielded a candidate in West Belfast and CISTA, which wants a review of drug laws relating to cannabis, is contesting four constituencies.
There are five independent candidates including Lady Sylvia Hermon.
In Northern Ireland, 1.2 million people are eligible to vote and there are 1,370 polling stations across Northern Ireland.
Counting will take place overnight and the first results are expected early on Friday 8 May.
You can get a list of candidates standing in each constituency here and it will be updated.


Racing at the Isle of Man TT has been cancelled on Thursday due to "torrential" rain on the island.

Clerk of the course Gary Thompson confirmed no racing or qualifying events will be held following a consultation with the Manx Met office.
He said the second Supersport race will not take place, but further consultation is due regarding the one-lap TT ZERO for electric bikes later.
The event's main senior race remains scheduled for Friday.
The Mountain Road was closed due to flooding but was due to reopen after 13:00 BST, police said.
A spokesman said conditions on the road were "treacherous" due to "torrential rain and fog."
Motorists have been advised to take extra care.
Ian Hutchinson and Michael Rutter won Wednesday's races while two riders died in separate crashes.
Irish road racer Alan Bonner was the third rider to lose his life at this year's event following Jochem van den Hoek and Davey Lambert.
Despite the weather, The Peel TT Bike Show in the west of the island is still going ahead as planned.


Northern Ireland's Bethany Firth has broken her own 200m freestyle world record to qualify in a third discipline for the Paralympics in Rio this summer.

The 20-year-old from Seaforde clocked 2:03.70 at the British Para-swimming trials for Rio in Glasgow.
Firth, a 2012 London Paralympics gold medallist, had already achieved the 100m breaststroke and 100m backstroke qualifying times at the trials.
She will compete in the 200m Individual Medley on Wednesday.
Firth won the 200m freestyle by two seconds from Jessica-Jane Applegate with Chloe Davies back in third.
The Co Down woman represented Ireland at the 2012 Games before her decision to switch allegiance to Great Britain in 2013.
Last year Firth had to pull out of the British team for the IPC World Championships because of a broken wrist.
After this week's British trials, Firth will head to Madeira for the European Championships which take place in Madeira from 30 April to 7 May.


Families wanting to escape Christian militias bent on wiping out the Central African Republic's Muslim community have been braving lynch mobs at road blocks to journey 650km (400 miles) to Cameroon.

They join a monthly convoy that snakes to and from Cameroon's border from the capital, Bangui - guarded by African Union peacekeepers.
It is a form of ethnic cleansing in motion.
"I feel so sad leaving. I have never left this country before, says Mariama, a Muslim woman, before she boarded one of the vehicles as it prepared to leave Bangui.
"But four of my relatives were killed last week."
The old and the young were all rushing about her towards the vehicles - a mix of private cars and big trucks - to find a space to take them to safety.
"Should I stay to see my children and husband or myself get killed? No! My heart, however, remains with those Muslims I've left behind," she says.
Mariama is right to be scared - the country has been engulfed by ethno-religious violence since predominantly Muslim Seleka rebels took power last year.
Their leader stood down as president in January as part of a regional peace process but as the Seleka fighters withdrew Christian militias, known as "anti-balakas", have been hunting down Muslims wherever they can find them.
All along the way, we drove past mosques and Muslim property which had been burnt.
Some Muslims have found sanctuary in churches and others are hiding in the bushes.
Whenever they heard the sound of vehicles, a few would rush out to the road - often looking exhausted and malnourished - to ask for help and to see if they could squeeze into a truck or car.
At the start of the journey, we had about 150 Muslim evacuees and the number grew to 2,000 by the end.
At the church in Baoro we came across a large group of Muslims who wanted to join the convoy.
Source: Index Mundi
They were crying and begging and pleading as they are told there were not enough places left for all of them.
"I have come this far, maybe Allah decided this is where I'll finally meet my fate," said a distraught old man as the convoy was about to leave without him.
I began to plead with the Rwandan commander on his behalf, but as I did, a woman came up to us with three very tired-looking children.
She pointed at one of her daughters who had a machete wound and cried: "Whoever wanted to do this will accomplish it if I am not on the truck."
She described how anti-balakas posed as worshippers and once inside the church compound, lashed out at children with machetes they had hidden in their jackets.
The family was allowed to join the convoy, but the scene of those left behind haunted me as we spent that night sleeping out on the tarmac road.
Along the route, the anti-balakas had set up more than 20 roadblocks with the intention of stopping and killing any Muslims trying to escape.
The peacekeepers made sure that did not happen, destroying the barriers and disarming the militias.
As the convoy - which stretched back about 3km and had swelled to 110 vehicles - neared the border just after sunset, the convoy commander had not lost a single person, but then an anti-balaka militia made their final attempt.
An hour-long heavy exchange of fire ensued.
Despite fighting in darkness, the peacekeepers overpowered the militia - 10 people were killed including seven militiamen, two evacuees and a truck driver.
With some trucks rolling on shot-out tyres, the convoy finally crossed the border into Garou-Boulai.
The evacuees disembarked for a UN refugee agency reception centre where some would be transferred to two dedicated camps inside Cameroon.
Many others, however, intended to make their way to stay with relatives.
For the AU peacekeepers, there was a day's break, giving time for other trucks - from aid agencies and the CAR government - to join them to make the return journey loaded with food and supplies.
"It is a major operation… and is of very vital importance to the economy of this country," AU commander Maj Gen Martin Tumenta told the BBC.
It was another slow-going trip - allowing for breakdowns, roadblocks and more exchanges of fire with the anti-balakas - until we rolled into Bangui, which was eerily calm despite the tensions threatening to boil over.
However, for the peacekeepers, it was another difficult and life-saving mission accomplished.


Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola believes the race to finish in the Premier League's top four will go to the last day of the season.

Media playback is not supported on this device
City moved above Liverpool and into third place on goal difference thanks to Saturday's 5-0 win over Crystal Palace.
Manchester United and Arsenal, who are fifth and sixth, meet on Sunday.
"There are four amazing teams fighting for the last two Champions League places," the Catalan boss said.
"It will be a big, big battle until the last game.
"Hopefully United can focus on the Europa League and forget a little bit about the Premier League and then next season we can have five English teams in the Champions League, which would be amazing," he added.
United will qualify for next season's Champions League if they win the Europa League, giving the Premier League an extra spot in the competition. Jose Mourinho's men lead Celta Vigo 1-0 from the first leg of their semi-final.
Although City can still mathematically catch second-placed Tottenham, this season will almost certainly be the first in Guardiola's managerial career where he has not achieved at least a top-two finish.
His Barcelona side finished runners-up to Real Madrid in La Liga in 2012, but he won the title in his other three seasons there - while his Bayern Munich team were Bundesliga champions in each of the three years he was in charge.
"There is not another competition in the world with six strong teams fighting for one position - not in Spain nor Germany," Guardiola added.
"It is so clear that here, every season will be tougher and tougher to qualify for the Champions League.
"It is important to be in it for many reasons, to grow and to enjoy the big moments. We have got three games left and it is in our hands."
While City are only third in the league table, Guardiola is adamant they are the top team when it comes to their creative play - it is just their finishing that lets them down.
When asked about his side's inconsistency in attack after their crushing win over the Eagles, he replied: "I can only remember one game where the opponents created more chances than us - at White Hart Lane against Tottenham.
"The other ones? No chance.
"So we are better than all the teams in the Premier League, home and away, even the next champions Chelsea - we created more chances against them at home and at Stamford Bridge.
"In the boxes, though, we are not so good. Vincent Kompany's return has helped us, just with his presence, to be better in our own box.
"But we are the best team in the Premier League at creating clear, clear chances in front of goal - nobody can beat us at that."
Guardiola's stats are correct - Spurs had 13 shots to City's 12 when they lost at White Hart Lane in October.
Liverpool had the same number of shots as City when they drew at the Etihad Stadium in March but in City's other 33 league games under Guardiola, they have had more shots than the opposition.
And, although Spurs (460) and Liverpool (452) have had more chances, or shots at goal, in total than City this season (445), when it comes to what statisticians Opta call 'big chances' [defined as a situation where a player should reasonably be expected to score, usually in a one-on-one situation or from very close range], City are out in front with 67.
Guardiola has got used to seeing his side waste those sort of openings, and thought they would be punished again against Palace before their second-half goal glut.
"Believe me, if we had arrived in the last 20 minutes against Palace at 1-0, we do not win the game," he explained.
"I said to the players at half-time, either score another goal or forget about it, we are not able to win.
"It has happened a lot this season - I remember some similar performances against other teams, but against Palace we scored the goals, and on other days we were not able to do that."


When the first valleys initiative was launched nearly 30 years ago, there was a strong theme running through these south Wales communities - the sharp decline in coal and the loss of many, many thousands of jobs.

However, there is a big question about whether an all-Valleys approach makes sense today.
What unites them? Does it still make sense to have an economic strategy with such a geographical identity?
Life in various valleys communities today is varied and within each community there are pockets of poverty and pockets of prosperity.
This was highlighted by a recent so-called "deep place" study into Pontypool by Dr Mark Lang.
However, there are clearly still serious economic challenges in the valleys and the taskforce has been gathering the opinions of people living in those communities.
The minister responsible, Alun Davies, who represents one of the poorest valleys constituencies in Blaenau Gwent, has already said one message from communities was that there are not enough jobs near enough to home and there are too many zero-hour contracts and agency work.
He has clearly listened not just to people on the ground but to academics such as Prof Karel Williams and Dr Lang, who for several years have been arguing for more emphasis on what they call the foundational economy.
In other words, the sectors that exist in all communities: health, education, care, food and energy.
Perhaps this is a new thread to weave communities together in the way that coal once did.
Mr Davies has now outlined six economic or growth hubs - an idea suggested by the Bevan Foundation think-tank, although this is double the number it suggested.
The charity has calculated one in 15 jobs in the valleys is temporary, one in four are paid below the living wage and there are 67,000 fewer jobs than you would expect from the age profile of its communities.
But be careful with statistics - averages can be misleading. They can hide both extreme deprivation and wealth and can lead to sweeping statements about a whole community.
Averages can still help to paint a picture. In the case of Blaenau Gwent, it is a depressing one. It is one of the most deprived local authorities in the UK where the rate of unemployment is 50% higher than the Welsh average.
About one in six adults have no qualifications and for those who are working, wages are more than Â£60 a week less than the Welsh average.
Changing statistics such as those are a real challenge and are complicated, with many influences beyond Welsh Government control and the impact of Brexit.
We should remember the 1993 Valleys initiative was derailed by a UK-wide recession.
But this initiative does feel different from those in the past with the emphasis on more bread and butter - jobs closer to home and growth hubs.
The big question is how quickly the impact will be felt.


A retired businessman who was jailed in the US after he admitted selling weapon parts to Iran has spoken out against extradition laws which he has says are weighted in America's favour.

Christopher Tappin, 69, from Orpington, south east London, served his 33-month term in Pennsylvania and the UK.
He claims he was kept in solitary confinement in the US as punishment for fighting extradition.
The Home Office said safeguards were in place to protect British nationals.
In an exclusive interview with the BBC, Tappin said during his jail term a US prison warden asked him if he knew why he was being kept in solitary confinement and whether he had fought extradition.
"I said 'yes, I went through my legal process through the channels that are open to me' - he said 'well boy, that's the reason why. You oppose the US, this is what happens to you'."
In a call for an "even playing field" with the US over extradition, he said: "They won't allow anyone to come over to our country without a prima facie case. We shouldn't do either."
Tappin said he could have been jailed for 35 years at age 65 and therefore had no option but to make a plea bargain.
Plea bargaining is common in the US, with defendants often able to secure a more lenient sentence if they admit an offence.
A Home Office statement said: "This government has reformed the UK's extradition arrangements to make them more open and transparent and to put in place robust safeguards to protect British subjects."
But extradition lawyer Julian Knowles said the problem was not so much the treaty as the US criminal justice system.
He said: "In the US, if you fight your case you quite often get a savage sentence and that's what Mr Tappin was threatened with.
"Many people are just forced to plead guilty because they can't take the risk of fighting the case and losing, and if they plead guilty they get a lesser sentence.
"The problem is the US has such a savage sentencing regime so people whose extradition is sought from the UK feel they have to go back and just give in rather than fight because the price they will pay for fighting is just too high."
Tappin admitted aiding and abetting the illegal export of defence articles in 2012 and was jailed in January 2013.
He was returned to the UK that September and released in 2014.
The former director of Surrey-based Brooklands International Freight Services and former president of Kent Golf Society had denied trying to sell batteries for surface-to-air missiles to be shipped from the US to Tehran.


Politicians should stop using a "carrot of higher graduate earnings" to justify raising student fees or freezing repayment thresholds, say campaigners.

Those who do "should be charged with gross mis-selling", says Angus Hanton, co-founder of the Intergenerational Foundation (IF) lobby group.
Having to pay back student debts will wipe out any graduate premium for most professions, claims the IF in a report.
The government says higher education boosts employability and earnings.
The report focuses on tuition fee rises in England - currently capped at £9,000 a year - pointing out how successive governments have used the graduate "pay premium" to justify them.
The premium is the amount of extra money it is estimated a degree can help graduates to earn over the course of a lifetime.
The report says that in 2002, ministers put it at £400,000, but recent estimates have been more modest at about £100,000.
There are wide variations between the sexes and between subjects and institutions, it adds.
It argues that, while for somebody who gets an Oxbridge first, the premium figure of £400,000 "may still hold true",  it is much lower for non-Oxbridge graduates.
"The increasing number of graduates... is further undermining the value of a degree," it adds, with some previously low-to-median paid posts now requiring degrees.
"Our research proves that the current £100,000 graduate earnings premium so often touted equates to an 'annual bonus' of just £2,222 over 45 years of work and is wiped out once National Insurance and income tax are taken into account.
"Furthermore, the premium is simply not enough to cover the interest accruing on the average loan.
"The current system is fuelling a self-perpetuating debt-generating machine which short-changes young people," argues Mr Hanton.
The authors say a graduate who borrowed the maximum for tuition fees and maintenance would, with interest, owe £53,000 after three years.
If unpaid for the full 30 years before being written off and if bank rates follow the pattern of the previous 30 years, the debt would reach £282,420, they calculate.
In addition, unlike most ordinary loan agreements, the terms and conditions of student loans can be changed "at any moment without debate and without notice", they add.
They point out that the government has already broken a promise that the income threshold for repayments would increase with average earnings from April 2017.
Instead, it will be frozen at £21,000 for five years, then Chancellor George Osborne announced in November 2015.
The report questions whether lower paid graduates will continue to consider a degree worthwhile.
"Paying off these huge, unquantifiable and relatively unregulated debts will wipe out any graduate premium in all but the highest-paid professions," say the authors.
And graduates could find themselves effectively "indentured to an as-yet-unknown private banking entity" if the government were to sell their student debts to the private sector, they add.
Martin Lewis, from the MoneySavingExpert website, who has hired lawyers to test the legality of the threshold change, called the research "interesting" but said he was "somewhat worried it will be interpreted that someone who earns more won't take home more".
"Most students won't pay off the debt in full within the 30 years. So you have to consider this more as an extra income tax, rather than as a loan.
"If you earn more, you effectively pay 9% more in tax on earnings over £21,000 - but you still earn more," said Mr Lewis.
He said the report's emphasis on debt risked deterring people from non-traditional backgrounds from university "for the wrong reasons".
The Department for Business Innovation and Skills said: "All of our reports, based on independent data, have shown that a degree continues to give graduates a big earnings boost."
A spokesman said this boost amounted to an average of about £170,000 for men and £250,000 for women over a working life, after student loans, tax and national insurance had been taken into account.
The government is reforming the system and introducing a "teaching excellence framework" to ensure universities provide "the skills students and employers need", he added.
Scotland does not charge fees for Scottish undergraduates aged under 25. Fees in Wales are £9,000. Northern Irish students studying in Northern Ireland pay £3,925 a year.


Parents in Shropshire will have to pay hundreds of pounds more for students' subsidised bus and rail passes under fresh plans.

In 2010 the passes for 16 to 18-year-olds cost £262 annually per child.
But Shropshire Council increased this to £550 last year and is now proposing to increase it again so that parents contribute £900 a year.
Some fear it could put young people off college education but the council said the passes remained good value.
Church Stretton School head teacher Steve Lunt said: "My concern is that this kind of an increase means that, for some parents, access will be denied."
Shropshire Council said it had to save £80m over the next three years.
It said there would be were reduced charges for families on lower incomes and stressed no decision had been made.
A statement said: "This is an important and valuable scheme - and proposing to reduce the subsidy for students and parents isn't something we've considered lightly, and we're sensitive to the needs of our local communities.
"However, along with councils across the region and the country, Shropshire Council is having to make significant savings."
A decision is expected later this month.


Brighton & Hove Albion have appointed former Cardiff City head coach Paul Trollope as assistant to manager Chris Hughton.

Trollope, 44, was sacked by the Bluebirds last month after less than five months in charge.
He was part of Wales' coaching set-up at Euro 2016 and previously worked with Hughton at Birmingham and Norwich.
He replaces Colin Calderwood, who left the Seagulls to join Championship rivals Aston Villa earlier this week.
"I'm delighted to be working with Paul again," Hughton said.
"He's an excellent coach, and since his time with me he's gone on to gain great experience at international level with Wales and in club management with Cardiff."


A devoted Ariana Grande fan died in the suicide bomb attack at the US singer's concert at Manchester Arena.

Georgina Callander was the first victim to be named following the explosion on Monday night.
The teenager, who was pictured with Grande in 2015, sent a Twitter message to the star before the event, which read: "SO EXCITED TO SEE YOU TOMORROW".
Miss Callander, thought to be 18 and from Chorley, Lancashire, was described as "beautiful" by friends.
They said on social media she was one of the first people taken to hospital after the attack.
Miss Callander had already met Grande and previously posted a photograph of herself with the 23-year-old singer, taken in 2015, on her Instagram account.
She was in the second year of a health and social care course at Runshaw College in Leyland.
In a statement, the school said: "Our deepest sympathies, thoughts and prayers go out to all of Georgina's family, friends, and all of those affected by this loss.
"We are offering all available support possible at this tragic time, including counselling with our dedicated student support team."
A fundraising page has been set up to help her family with funeral and memorial costs.
Bolton Wanderers Football Club paid tribute to the former Bishop Rawstorne Church of England Academy pupil, who had played for their under-11 girls' team in 2010.
Club chaplain Phil Mason said: "Our thoughts and prayers are with her friends and family during this awful time of loss."
He added that there will also be a minute's silence before the first team ladies' friendly against Wigan Athletic on Wednesday evening at Macron Stadium, where the team will wear black armbands.


Botswana will hold a national holiday in honour of Isaac Makwala if he wins 200m gold at the World Championships.

Media playback is not supported on this device
Makwala, whose exploits in London have been a major talking point this week, races in the final later on Thursday.
On Tuesday he was barred from the 400m final, as officials tried to halt a "very virulent" norovirus outbreak.
But he returned and progressed from an individual 200m time trial on Wednesday - he was quarantined for Monday's heats - and celebrated by doing press-ups.
The 30-year-old, who said he is "still running with a broken heart" will be going up against South Africa's Wayde van Niekerk, who on Tuesday dominated the 400m race for which Makwala said he had been training.
Botswana's Sports Minister Thapelo Olopeng told BBC World Service's Sport Today the country would also pay Makwala the $10,000 (£7,500) he would have received from the government had he won 400m gold.
"The president has set aside a certain day for him," said Olopeng. "It will be a public holiday for people to come and meet Makwala and all over the country there will be celebrations with music and dancing. The man has lifted the name of our country higher and higher, and he deserves this welcome as our hero."
The minister said that the country had submitted a further complaint about the handling of the issue by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the world governing body.
"The way he performed yesterday [in the 200m qualifiers] he showed no signs of ailment and I don't understand why the IAAF has continued with the same decision," Olopeng said.
"They should call for a re-run or give him the same opportunity as they did in the 200m [a time-trial run on his own]. They have not responded and if they don't then we will take the matter forward, we have a legal team waiting to give us advice on how far we can take it.
"What happened to our athlete has created a lot of displeasure in the country and we are very unhappy. To me it's a great disappointment."
Media playback is not supported on this device
The IAAF - criticised for its decision to stop Makwala running in the 400m final - allowed him another chance to compete in the 200m after receiving a written request from the Botswanan federation.
Makwala, who qualified second fastest behind the United States' Isiah Young, has the quickest season's best and personal best of the nine-man field.
Van Niekerk, running his fifth race in as many days, only made it through as a fastest loser.
Meanwhile, the number of people associated with the World Championships who have reported illness has risen from 30 to 40, Public Health England announced.
The body said that three cases have been confirmed as norovirus by laboratory testing.
The IAAF defended its actions and said it was under instruction to quarantine athletes who showed symptoms of the virus.
It acknowledged Makwala's absence was "a sad case" but said its medical staff examined the athlete and notes taken by a doctor showed he had been vomiting over an 18-hour period.


The UN says that the number of people displaced by unrest in southern Kyrgyzstan has reached 400,000.

About 300,000 people have fled their homes, while another 75,000-100,000 people - not counting children - are thought to have taken refuge in Uzbekistan.
The Red Cross (ICRC) has described the situation as an "immense crisis".
Some aid has begun to arrive in the region, but the ICRC says refugees are running short of basic supplies.
At least 40,000 refugees are without shelter.
People have been leaving after violence between Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks last week, in which at least 191 were killed. Some observers have said the death toll is higher.
The latest UN Humanitarian Office figure exceeds previous estimates of 250,000-275,000 displaced.
Q&A: Kyrgyzstan's ethnic violence
Eyewitness: 'Still afraid'
Over the border in Uzbekistan, many of the displaced - mostly women and children - are in makeshift camps.
Many report instances of rape, and severe beatings.
"We need clothes and medical supplies, especially for the children, because when we fled our homes we just ran away and couldn't take anything with us," said Halima Otajonova, a 41-year-old mother of two, at a refugee centre at a stadium in the Uzbek town of Khanabad.
"Some of us even ran away in bare feet, without shoes," she told the AFP news agency.
The city of Osh, which saw most of the violence, is being patrolled by Kyrgyz troops, amid an uneasy calm. However, there have been reports of soldiers taking part in looting.
The ICRC says its workers have reached refugees in the areas around Osh.
"We've seen for ourselves and also heard about pockets of displaced people ranging from several hundred to several thousand in number," said the ICRC's Severine Chappaz.
The organisation said insecurity and fear, combined with shortages of basic necessities like food, water, shelter and medicine, were putting a tremendous strain on communities, hospitals and families.
Signs of violence in Jalalabad
Paul Quinn-Judge, Central Asia Project Director at the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based security think tank, said the situation was likely to get worse.
"We're going to have an increasingly serious humanitarian problem which is going to affect both the Kyrgyz and the Uzbek communities in southern Kyrgyzstan," he told the BBC from the capital, Bishkek.
"The reports from the Uzbek communities in Osh and in Jalalabad are so bloodcurdling that I doubt whether anybody will want to go back in the near future. In fact they'd probably only go back if the Uzbek government forced them to."
In an Uzbek district of Osh, a baker who had fled to the border with his wife and five children on Sunday said his family had lost hope after supplies on the border ran out, and returned out of desperation.
"Is there any difference where to die? There is no food, no water, no humanitarian aid," Melis Kamilov told the Associated Press news agency.
Eyewitnesses say Kyrgyz mobs began attacking people in Uzbek areas of Osh and another southern city, Jalalabad, in the early hours of Friday last week.
Kyrgyzstan's interim leaders have been struggling to impose their authority since coming to power after President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was overthrown in April.
The government believes allies of Mr Bakiyev, who now lives in exile in Belarus, want to derail a national referendum on constitutional reform scheduled for 27 June.
But the government has said it will go ahead with the referendum despite the clashes.
Mr Quinn-Judge told the BBC the decision not to delay the vote suggested the interim government was "having a few reality problems".
Ethnic Uzbeks have largely supported the interim government, but Mr Bakiyev remains popular with many Kyrgyz in the south.
A Kyrgyz government appeal for Russia to send in peacekeeping troops was rejected by Moscow.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has now said his country will provide technical assistance to Kyrgyzstan to help it track down those behind the clashes.
Washington is sending its top Central Asia diplomat, Robert Blake, for meetings with officials in Bishkek on Friday and Saturday.
The clashes are the worst ethnic violence to hit southern Kyrgyzstan since 1990, when deadly clashes were suppressed by the Soviet authorities.


UKIP's annual conference begins in Bournemouth on Friday, when the party's new leader will be announced and its deep divisions will be brought into sharp focus.

Members from Wales said they are looking forward to discussing their electoral success in May's assembly election over the next two days, as they join UKIP members for "a party like no other" on England's south coast.
They will have a "golden opportunity" to celebrate "changing the course of British history", UKIP's website proudly states.
But beyond the celebrations, there are also big questions to answer this weekend.
Where does the party go from here, having achieved its central aim?  And who will be at the helm?
We will get the answer to that question at lunchtime on Friday when Nigel Farage's successor is announced.
Diane James, a member of the European Parliament for South East England, is the favourite.
Lisa Duffy, Elizabeth Jones, Bill Etheridge and Phillip Broughton are the other candidates.
Jonathan Arnott has withdrawn from the race and it was decided Steven Woolfe would not be allowed to stand after he missed the deadline to apply by 17 minutes.
One of the new leader's main priorities will be to heal the deep internal divisions that are now clear for all to see, particularly in Wales.
Having won the party's first seats in Cardiff Bay in May, this conference should be an opportunity for the party's Welsh members to boast about their electoral success.
However, it will also be a chance to scrutinise the tensions that have already seen the number of UKIP assembly members cut from seven to six.
The party's leader in Wales, Nathan Gill, now sits as an independent member, although he continues to represent UKIP in the European Parliament.
The party's members in the assembly are led by Neil Hamilton and the bad blood between him and Mr Gill reflects a split that threatens the party at a UK level: between those such as Mr Gill who support the outgoing leader's approach, and those including Mr Hamilton who want a change of direction.
Mr Gill and Mr Hamilton will both attend the conference, both keen to know who will be crowned leader and what the result could mean for them.
Unsurprisingly, Mr Gill is backing Ms James, who is widely regarded as the Faragist candidate.
"She will take UKIP in the direction we need to go," he has said. "Some of the leadership candidates want to take us to the right.
"That's something I am opposed to and I know Diane's opposed to that too."
Mr Gill also believes Ms James would try to change the party in Wales and "stamp her authority" on any individuals causing trouble.
Mr Hamilton, on the other hand, is supporting Ms Duffy: "Lisa is the authentic voice of grassroots members in UKIP and she would be a collegiate leader, which is what we want."
Under Farage, Mr Hamilton said UKIP had been a "one-man band".
"We can't replicate that and wouldn't want to," he said.
But should Ms James win on Friday, does the assembly group leader fear his position could be in jeopardy?
"There is absolutely nothing anybody can do to change the leadership of the group in the assembly because that's entirely in the hands of assembly members," he insisted.
"They elected me rather than Nathan Gill."
Welsh party members close to Mr Gill told me they will be celebrating if Ms James wins.
However, they will not be in Bournemouth.
One said he would be staying away from this year's conference because he had "had enough". Another said the party had "had its day".
But others, from the opposite wing of the party, are looking forward to the next two days, keen to show supporters from other parts of the UK how "robust" the party in Wales remains, and how to win seats.
That will be the aim again at the local elections in 2017. This weekend will go a long way towards showing how the party, with its new leader, intends to achieve that.


Labour deputy leader Tom Watson has said the party will "get a grip" on anti-Semitism following the suspension of Ken Livingstone on Thursday.

Labour was considering changes to its rules to send "a clear signal" of its "zero tolerance" towards anti-Semitism.
Mr Livingstone was suspended after claiming Hitler supported Zionism "before he went mad".
Labour has been beset in recent weeks by growing claims of anti-Semitism within its ranks.
Shadow home secretary Andy Burnham said allegations must be dealt with "much more speedily in the future".
What's the difference between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism?
He told BBC One's Question Time on Thursday that he did not think the party was anti-Semitic but added:  "These allegations, when they are surfacing, have not been dealt with properly and quickly enough."
But Mr Watson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that party leader Jeremy Corbyn did "act swiftly" to suspend his ally of 40 years, Mr Livingstone.
He said Mr Livingstone's comments were "vile" adding: "To link Hitler and Zionism in the way he did must have been designed to create offence." But he said it was for Labour's ruling national executive committee to decide whether to expel him from the party.
In the meantime Mr Watson said he and Mr Corbyn had been looking at whether "Labour's own structures" needed changing "to make sure that we send a very clear signal to people in our party that we will have a zero tolerance approach to anti-Semitism".
"Do we need to change our rules to explicitly rule out racism and specifically include anti-Semitism in that?" he said.
"We are going to deal with this."
Meanwhile BBC Wales understands that Mr Corbyn has been asked not to join Labour campaigning in Wales ahead of the assembly elections following the anti-Semitism row.
The row exploded on Thursday after a radio interview that Mr Livingstone did with BBC Radio London, defending Naz Shah, the party's MP for Bradford West, who had been suspended on Wednesday over comments on Facebook.
In it he said:  "When Hitler won his election in 1932 his policy then was that Jews should be moved to Israel. He was supporting Zionism before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews."
He was later confronted outside the BBC's studios by Labour MP John Mann, who accused him of being a "Nazi apologist" in front of TV cameras. Other Labour MPs condemned Mr Livingstone's comments.
He was later suspended by Mr Corbyn, who said there had been "grave concerns" about the language used.
Labour peer Lord Sugar said Mr Livingstone had "lost the plot" and was "obsessed with Hitler, concentration camps and Jews".
"They will wait for it to blow over a little bit and they will find some way of him coming back in, slipping back into the Labour fold," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
But Jon Lansman, chairman of Momentum, a grassroots network of Corbyn supporters, said that while Mr Livingstone's comments were "very ill-judged, wrong and offensive" to "call Ken a Nazi apologist is ridiculous".
He said: "Just as the Tories have an interest in stoking up the flames of whatever crisis is here... largely a crisis of perception... so do some people in the Labour Party and I'm afraid John Mann is one of them. John Mann is no supporter of Jeremy Corbyn."
On Wednesday Ms Shah was suspended, pending an investigation, over comments she made on Facebook before she became an MP, including a suggestion that Israel should be moved to the United States.
She has apologised but it has prompted claims from senior Labour figures that the party was not doing enough to tackle growing anti-Semitism in its ranks.
Mr Corbyn has denied the party is in crisis, saying: "It's not a crisis. There's no crisis. Where there is any racism in the party it will be dealt with, it will be rooted out."
He said it was "simply wrong" to suggest Labour was not cracking down on anti-Semitism. "We have suspended where appropriate, we have investigated all cases. We will not tolerate anti-Semitism in any form whatsoever in the party."


The Liberal Democrats will invest an extra £5.8bn in England's school budgets, the party's manifesto reveals.

School budgets and the pupil premium for disadvantaged children would rise to protect them against rising costs.
The party also promises 15 hours free childcare for two-year-olds in England and more access to flexible working.
However, while it plans to reintroduce maintenance grants for the poorest students, there is no commitment to abolish tuition fees in England.
Instead, the Lib Dems promise a review of higher education finance in the next Parliament "to consider any necessary reforms, in the light of the latest evidence of the impact of the existing financing system on access, participation and quality".
Under the party's plans the devolved administrations of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland would gain similar amounts which they could choose to spend on education, bringing the overall UK total to about £7bn over the next Parliament.
The party's manifesto says UK schools are facing "an unprecedented funding crisis" and pledges to protect per-pupil funding in real terms and introduce a fairer national funding system "so that no school loses money".
It also says the Lib Dems would scrap the planned expansion of grammar schools in England and give local authorities "clear responsibility for local school places planning".
The party also promises free school meals for all primary schools in England.
The Lib Dems say too many teachers are leaving the profession.
They say they would end the 1% cap on teachers' pay rises and work to end "unnecessary teacher workloads".
There is also a pledge to ensure that all teachers are trained to identify mental health issues among pupils and that schools offer immediate access for pupil support and counselling.
The manifesto promises 15 hours of free childcare during term-time for all two-year-olds - currently 15 hours is available to the poorest 40%.
The party would then prioritise 15 hours of free childcare for all working parents in England with children aged between nine months and two years.
The early years pupil premium would increase from just over £300 to £1,000 a year per pupil.
There is also a commitment to "raise the quality of early years provision", with every formal early years setting expected to employ at least one person, by 2022, with an early years teachers qualification.
It proposes to expand shared parental leave "with an additional 'use it or lose it' month to encourage fathers to take time off with young children".
"We would make paternity and shared parental leave a 'day one' right," it adds.
It says the party would encourage employers to provide more flexible working, "so that there is a presumption that work is flexible unless there is a clear business reason it cannot be".
The manifesto says its commitments for education and the family would be funded by increasing income tax by a penny and raising corporation tax from 19% to 20%.
The National Day Nurseries Association welcomed the manifesto but said pledges had to be properly financed.
Chief executive Purnima Tanuku said: "While the Lib Dems set out some ambitious and worthwhile aims in their manifesto, there must be sufficient investment and strategic planning for these to be deliverable.
"In offering all two-year-olds 15 funded hours of childcare per week, the Lib Dems are committing to an expansion of the current system which is already struggling with underfunding.
"It is at least heartening that the Lib Dems acknowledge that any childcare promises to parents must be properly funded for nurseries to remain sustainable as businesses, but in committing to longer-term goals to provide 'free' childcare for all from nine months onwards, they are in danger of being overly ambitious."
The Association of School and College Leaders said it welcomed the commitment to improve education funding from both the Lib Dems and the Labour party.
General secretary Geoff Barton said: "Labour and the Liberal Democrats have recognised the importance of ensuring that schools and colleges are properly funded, and we are sure that the public will expect the Conservatives to invest in the future of our young people too."


Manager David Healy admits Linfield's title chances will disappear if they do not beat Ards and Ballinamallard United in their next two matches.

Healy's second-placed Blues are seven points behind defending champions Crusaders with seven matches left.
The top two clash in the first post-split fixtures on Saturday, 8 April.
"That will only be a big game if we beat Ards and Ballinamallard. We cannot afford to let the gap widen," said the former Northern Ireland striker.
"It is up to us to do our job and keep the pressure on, but it is going to take an almighty collapse by Crusaders.
"They have not lost many games over the last couple of seasons and it is in their hands.
"I am sure they are confident of holding on to their title."
Victory for Linfield on Saturday would reduce the gap between the top two to four points, for a couple of days at least, as Crusaders host Ballinamallard on Monday night.
Ards are up to eighth in the table having taken seven points from their last three games.
Coleraine will hope to continue their push for a top three place when they travel to Mourneview Park to play Glenavon.
Oran Kearney's Bannsiders have won seven and drawn the other from their last eight in the league and are just one point behind third-placed Cliftonville with a game in hand.
Coleraine will meet Glenavon again in the Irish Cup semi-finals on 1 April, but Kearney is concentrating on picking up more Premiership points.
"We are pushing to finish as high up the league as we can - not thinking ahead  and waiting for the cup match," said Kearney.
"There is a huge amount of football for us to play between now and then, and there are places in the team up for grabs.
"If performances are not up to scratch, there are a lot of good players waiting in the wings.
"We are at the business end of the season and I just hope we can carry on with the quality and level of performances we have had recently."
Cliftonville, with just two points from their last four league fixtures, travel to Dungannon whose form has dipped with just one point from a possible 15.
The Premiership's bottom two clash at the Belfast Loughshore Hotel Arena where relegation favourites Portadown face Carrick Rangers.
The Ports have not won in the league since Boxing Day and another defeat would leave them 14 points adrift with six matches left.
Ballymena United, meanwhile, will try to make it three league wins in a row when they play Glentoran at the Showgrounds.


The legal drink-drive limit should be lowered in England and Wales to cut alcohol-related accidents, councils and fire authorities have urged.

The Local Government Association (LGA) and all fire and rescue authorities in England and Wales are calling for the current limit to be lowered from 80mg to 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.
The move could save 170 lives in the first year, according to the LGA.
The government said UK roads were "amongst the safest in the world".
The Scottish government reduced its legal limit for drivers to 50mg in December 2014.
Northern Ireland will also soon drop its limit to the same level, and even lower for professional and learner drivers.
But last year, the government said there were no plans to lower the drink-drive limit in England and Wales to bring it in line with Scotland.
Fall in drink-drivers after limit cut
The LGA said it was estimated that lowering the limit in England and Wales could save up to 170 lives in the first year, rising to more than 300 lives in the sixth year.
A lower limit could also save Â£300m annually by reducing the number of 999 responses and hospital admissions, the LGA said.
It cited provisional government figures showing that reported "serious" drink-drive accidents between 2014 and 2015 in Britain had risen from 880 to 980, an increase of 11%.
Total reported drink-drive accidents had increased by 2% from 5,620 to 5,740.
The same figures showed the number of people seriously injured in reported drink-drive accidents between 2014 and 2015 had risen from 1,070 to 1,170, an increase of 9%.
Between 2010 and 2015 the number of people killed in reported drink-drive accidents has remained between 220 and 240 a year.
Simon Blackburn, chairman of the LGA's Safer and Stronger Communities Board, said the fact that England and Wales would soon have the highest drink-drive limit in Europe "is not sending the right message to motorists".
He said: "The government should be leading by example by toughening up drink-drive laws in line with other European countries which will make roads safer and save lives.
"A lower alcohol limit would help to deter motorists from drinking at all before getting behind the wheel and encourage them to have 'none for the road'."
Motorists 'getting' drink-drive message
The Department for Transport spokesman said the government believed that rigorous enforcement and severe penalties for drink driving were a more effective deterrent than changing the drink-drive limit.
He said: "Those over the current drink driving limit cause a disproportionate amount of harm. These are the people we need to focus our efforts and resources upon.
"Our roads continue to be amongst the safest in the world because we crack down on those who break the law."


A drone squad, designed to locate and - if necessary - capture nuisance drones flown by members of the public, is to be launched by police in Tokyo.

The police unit will patrol important buildings such as the prime minister's office.
If a suspicious drone is detected, the operator will be warned via loudspeakers on the ground.
But if he or she fails to respond, police will launch drones equipped with nets to bring down the device.
"Terrorist attacks using drones carrying explosives are a possibility," a senior member of the police department's security bureau told the Asahi Shimbun website.
"We hope to defend the nation's functions with the worst-case scenario in mind."
In April, a drone carrying a small amount of radioactive material landed on the roof of the prime minister's office. No-one was injured and a man was subsequently arrested in connection with the incident.
A video posted online by Japanese website Jijicom shows how Tokyo Police's drones, complete with nets, might catch an unwanted airborne device in action.
"In Japan, it is illegal to pilot drones over certain areas such as airports and power plants, over roads, or above a height of 150m," Paul Haswell, a partner at legal firm Pinsent Masons, told the BBC.
"Some cities such as Tokyo and Osaka have also outlawed their use in parks."
Regulations on drones came into force in Japan this week, following an amendment to the country's Aviation Act.
"Japan's new net-carrying, drone-disabling drone is certainly an interesting way to police those areas where drones are forbidden," added Mr Haswell.
Rules over drone use are being tightened up in several countries. In the US for example, authorities have called for a drone register which would list device owners across the nation.


A day after it rejected a bill which would have lowered the age of criminal responsibility from 18 to 16, the lower house of Brazil's Congress has approved a new version of the proposal.

The new version would make it possible to try children between 16 and 18 years as adults if they are accused of certain serious offences.
The bill still faces a second vote and two votes in the Senate.
The U-turn was seen as a victory for the lower house speaker, Eduardo Cunha.
The new version of the bill was broadly similar to the one which lawmakers had rejected the night before but, according to its supporters, with a slightly narrower range of offences than before.
If it becomes law, youngsters between 16 and 18 could face the same sentences as adults and be sent to adult jails for crimes such as rape and murder with intent to kill.
Critics said it would have disastrous consequences, with young people put at risk in Brazil's overcrowded and dangerous adult prisons.
But its supporters said that if the bill became law, new detention centres would be created specifically for the 16-18 age group.
Opponents of the bill accused its main backer, Mr Cunha, of abusing congressional procedures by putting the bill to the vote for a second time less than 24 hours after it had been narrowly rejected.
The campaign to reduce the age of criminal responsibility gained momentum in Brazil after a recent spate of high-profile crimes involving adolescents.


Glamorgan pipped Somerset by one run in a dramatic finish to earn a last-eight place for the third time in four years.

Johann Myburgh's 87 put the home side in the driving seat chasing 184, before Marchant de Lange bowled him and then conceded just six in the last over.
Glamorgan's 183-6 owed much to T20 rookie Nick Selman, who hit 66 off 42 balls.
Aneurin Donald (33), Colin Ingram (35) and Graham Wagg (28 not out) played valuable cameos.
Surrey's victory over Sussex meant that Glamorgan can finish no worse than fourth place.
But Glamorgan were pushed all the way by a fighting Somerset performance, with Myburgh's 87 off 51 balls putting Somerset in the driving seat.
De Lange's double strike, running out Jim Allenby before yorking Myburgh, dragged the visitors back into contention, but the South African paceman still needed to keep his cool in the final over.
He conceded two singles off the first five balls, with Peter Trego's four off the final delivery not quite enough to save Somerset, who remain in with a chance of a quarter-final place if they beat Hampshire at Southampton on Friday, 18 August.
Glamorgan fast bowler Marchant de Lange told BBC Wales Sport: "I was disappointed with my first two overs and you're always under pressure as a bowler then, but I like my death bowling - it's a good challenge especially in situations like today.
"In this situation I was really pleased, the wickets (in the 18th over) were important because it's a dot ball and it brings the flow of the game to a standstill, especially with a class player like Myburgh. It was important to get him out."


Donald Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen has ignited a debate about fatherly pride, after tweeting a picture of his daughter in lingerie.

He shared a black and white modelling shot of his daughter, 21-year-old Samantha, with the words: "So proud of my Ivy League daughter... brains and beauty channeling her Edie Sedgwick".
Minutes later, he found himself branded "Mr Creepypants" by critics on Twitter.
Several of the replies drew angry retaliation from Mr Cohen.
"Most fathers don't post lingerie shots of their daughters. I guess #Trump must be rubbing off on you," one tweeter said.
The angry lawyer responded: "Beauty and brains you a-hole! It's a modeling shot remake from an old Edie Sedgwick photo. #hater"
Another Twitter responder, Shannon Coulter, wrote: "Edie Sedgwick bucked social norms for women in the mid-1960s. If you'd been her dad, you'd have been angry and terrified."
She then reposted the original photograph of Edie Sedgwick in a black bra and tights, which shows her smoking and "sitting on a man as if he was furniture".
Mr Cohen, who serves as the president's personal attorney, also called one unimpressed woman "jealous".
Some observers suggested Mr Cohen's pride wasn't at fault - only his choice of picture.
"She's lovely," tweeted a woman with the handle @kidsistah. "But seriously dude, no cap & gown pics available? Think before you post. If she has got brains, she didn't get them from you."
At least one mother supported Mr Cohen, writing: "As mother of 2 Ivy daughters this pic is no big deal. The kids consider it art & impressive. You people r unsophisticated & out of touch."
The lawyer's daughter, who is a student at the University of Pennsylvania, also sprang to his defence, retweeting his "jealous" comment.
She told Dailymail.com: "My father, who has always been supportive of my endeavours, was merely expressing his pride. There is nothing inappropriate in the picture and those who seek to make it something it is not are merely Trump haters who are using this as an opportunity to stir up drama.
"I find it hypocritical that those who consider themselves liberal would criticise a woman embracing her body. There is nothing sexualised about the photograph... it is tasteful and it is demure."
Ms Cohen has posted several pictures of herself in swimwear on her public Instagram page - and one with her father, captioned simply "Daddy's girl".


The co-mayors of Diyarbakir, Turkey's largest Kurdish-majority city, have been detained as part of a terrorism investigation, security officials say.

Gultan Kisanak was held at the local airport, while Firat Anli was arrested at his home in the south-eastern city.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to prosecute local officials accused of links to the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
In September, 28 elected mayors in largely Kurdish towns were sacked.
They were replaced by trustees appointed by the government using an emergency law that came into force following a failed army-led coup in July.
The pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), whose mayors were principally affected, condemned September's sackings as a "coup by trustees".
The PKK was formed in the late 1970s and launched an armed struggle against the Turkish government in 1984, calling for an independent Kurdish state within Turkey.
Since then, more than 40,000 people have died.
In the 1990s, the organisation rolled back on its demands for an independent Kurdish state, calling instead for more autonomy for the Kurds.
Last year, a ceasefire reached in 2013 appeared to be over when Turkey launched air strikes against PKK camps in northern Iraq.


Joe Perry has been given a three-month ban - suspended until May 2018 - for breaching rules on betting on matches.

Perry, 42, admitted placing 193 bets between September 2009 and June 2013 worth £2,806.49, making a profit of £832.09.
None of the bets involved his own matches, but he did bet on matches in tournaments in which he was competing.
Snooker's world governing body said there was "no suggestion Perry was engaged in any corrupt activity".
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) also fined him £2,500.
The WPBSA said that when giving evidence, Perry said he had placed the bets "purely out of boredom or distraction".
His ban is suspended until the end of next year's World Championship, "provided there are no other subsequently proven breaches", the WPBSA said.
Sign up to My Sport to follow snooker news and reports on the BBC app.


US company results can be a heavy read, so here are the headlines from Apple.

Still doing well. It sold 47.5 million in the three months to 27 June, up 35% on this time last year. The total is down 22% on the previous quarter, but that's largely because consumers know Apple is about to release a new model - probably in the autumn - so many will wait until then.
Continued decline, attributed to bigger iPhones being available. A sixth consecutive quarter of falls - but iPad still dominates the high-end tablet market (that's anything about $200). Apple shifted just shy of 11m units in the last quarter. That said, chief executive Tim Cook said: "I am still bullish on iPad."
Now that's a lot trickier.
"We made a decision back to September not to disclose the shipments of the watch," Mr Cook told investors on Tuesday.
"That was not a matter of not being transparent. It was a matter of not giving our competition insight on a product we've worked hard on."
Many aren't buying that explanation. But let's look at what Apple did tell us.
Apple has lumped the watch in its "other" category that includes the iPod, Beats accessories, Apple TV and so on.
Compared to the previous quarter - before the gadget went on sale - the "other" category is up 56%, with quarterly revenue of $2.6bn.
But Mr Cook urged against back-of-a-cigarette-packet maths to determine watch sales.
"It would not be be an accurate thing to look at the sequential change and assume that was the watch revenue," he said.
Parts of the category, such as the iPod, are in decline, making a precise number hard to isolate until Apple feels compelled to tell us.
Having canvassed several analysts, the general wisdom is that Apple has sold between 2.5 million and 3 million watches.
Sensing the assumption that journalists and investors might suggest the watch hasn't been a hit thus far, Mr Cook kept things positive.
"Sales of the watch did exceed our expectations and they did so despite supply trailing demand at the end of the quarter," he said.
To back this up, Mr Cook said sales in June were higher than in April or May, seemingly putting to bed some reports that sales had fallen off a cliff. Analysts agreed that was a good sign for future sales.
Francisco Jeronimo, an analyst for IDC, put the performance into context, tweeting: "Whatever estimates you have for the Apple Watch, one thing is for sure: Apple sold more watches in 2Q15 than all other smartwatch vendors combined."
Carolina Milanesi, from Kantar WorldPanel, said sales were not key at the moment: "Opportunity, in my view, is more important at this point than early sales - as for every product to be honest.
"We surveyed consumers in Britain in April - soon after the Apple Watch became available - and asked their brand preference if they intended to buy a wearable device in the next year - 69% said Apple."
Following the results, Apple shares fell by almost 7%, partly due to a lower-than-expected forecast for the next quarter.
So, for the time being, the debate over whether the Apple Watch is the firm's next big hit or an embarrassing flop continues.
Mr Cook's quoting of surveys claiming very high satisfaction rates doesn't match up entirely with anecdotal evidence of some early adopters, but that's a conclusion as unscientific as it sounds. We just have to wait and see.
And here's another nugget to ponder: sales of the iPhone in South Korea specifically were up 200% - which means, Mr Jeronimo estimates, it could be outselling Samsung in its home country.
Follow Dave Lee on Twitter: @DaveLeeBBC


The plunging value of the Russian rouble has led game maker Valve to impose limits on its online store.

It has started putting "region-locks" on games bought via its Steam service in Russia so only people in that country can play them.
The move is an attempt to stop people outside the country buying games that are far cheaper from the Russian store.
Many games costing $40 (Â£25) on the US Steam store cost only a few dollars in Russia.
The Steam Prices website, which logs price differences across the regional Steam game networks, reveals many games are currently up to 10 times more expensive in the US and UK than they are in Russia.
Falling oil prices and economic sanctions have conspired to cause the value of the rouble to lose more than half its value against the US dollar this year. Earlier this week one dollar was worth 79 roubles though the currency has recovered since and now $1 buys about 61 roubles.
Valve's move is the first time that region locks have been imposed on games available via the hugely popular Steam service. Valve has yet to issue a comment on its decision to lock games.
Earlier this week Apple also reacted to the economic turmoil in Russia by halting sales made via the Russian version of its online store. It said exchange rates were too volatile for it to set prices.


Urban agriculture is playing an increasingly important role in global food security, a study has suggested.

Researchers, using satellite data, found that agricultural activities within 20km of urban areas occupy an area equivalent to the 28-nation EU.
The international team of scientists says the results should challenge the focus on rural areas of agricultural research and development work.
The findings appear in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
"This is the first study to document the global scale of food production in and around urban settings," explained co-author Pay Drechsel, a researcher for the International Water Management Institute (IWMI).
"There were people talking about urban agriculture but we never knew details. How did it compare with other farming systems? This assessment showed us that it was much larger than we expected."
The team acknowledged that the study could actually be conservative, as it focused on urban areas with populations of 50,000 or greater.
Urban world
Dr Drechsel said that when urban farming was compared with other (ie rural) farming systems, the results were surprising. For example, the total area of rice farming in South Asia was smaller than what was being cultivated in urban areas around the globe.
Likewise, total maize production in sub-Saharan Africa was not as large as the area under cultivation in urban areas around the world.
UN data shows that more than 50% of the world's population now lives in urban areas, which could explain the changing landscape of global agriculture.
"We could say that the table is moving closer to the farm," observed Dr Drechsel.
"The most interesting factor when we look at India is that we could map the whole country as urban or peri-urban because there are so many towns and cities."
He added: "This has so many consequences in terms of what cities do to their environment because they are sucking out water but giving back polluted waste."
Using Ghana as an example, Dr Drechsel said that the majority of vegetable farmers irrigated their crops with polluted water. In Accra, it is estimated that up to 10% of household wastewater was indirectly recycled by urban farms.
"These farms are now recycling more wastewater than local treatment plants," he observed.
Lead author Anne Thebo from the University of California, Berkeley, said the study was "an important first step towards better understanding urban crop production at the global and regional scales".
She added: "In particular, by including farmlands in areas just outside of cities we can begin to see what these croplands really mean for urban water management and food production."
Dr Drechsel explained that there was a marked difference in attitudes between the developed world and developing nations when it came to urban agriculture.
"In the North, we consider agricultural activities in cities as something positive," he told BBC News.
"We think it is really useful and there are many models as to how we could better integrate agriculture into cities.
"Yet in the South, it is considered to be an oxymoron - farming and cities have nothing in common and they would like to get all of the farming out of the cities."
He explained that it was important to foster a greater level of integration between agricultural and urban development policies.
"This is not happening in large parts of the developing world because the urban sprawl is happening far too quickly. The legislative, administrative infrastructure is unable to keep pace."


British short track speed skater Elise Christie won her second gold medal at the World Cup event in South Korea with another victory over 1,000m.

It is the second successive weekend that the 26-year-old Scot has won two golds, after victory in both 500m races in Shanghai.
Christie also won gold in November's season-opener in Calgary, Canada.
This weekend's races were taking place on the 2018 Winter Olympics track in Gangneung.
Christie finished in one minute 32.869 seconds on Sunday, with China's Yihan Guo taking silver.
The Briton had clocked 1:29.39 to win the 1,000m event on Saturday.
She broke the 500m world record in a quarter-final at the second World Cup in Salt Lake City, USA but fell in the final.
The fifth World Cup event of the season takes place in Dresden, Germany on 3-5 February.


A sophisticated instrument that helps scientists gain new insights into the make-up of the universe has been upgraded by Edinburgh scientists.

The instrument, known as the Large Underground Xenon, or Lux, detector, is a mile underground in a former mine in South Dakota, USA.
It searches for tiny particles which would improve scientists' understanding of dark matter.
Dark matter is the invisible material thought to make up 95% of the universe.
Dark matter has yet to be detected directly by scientists and has so far been observed only by its effects on gravity, which can be seen in the rotation of galaxies and the way light bends as it travels through space.
The upgrade increases the chances of the detector identifying sub-atomic particles called Wimps - weakly interacting massive particles - which scientists believe are the main component of dark matter.
A team of physicists, including scientists at Edinburgh University, have made Lux's ability to identify the lightest form of Wimps about 20 times more sensitive.
This has allowed them to study data collected during Lux's initial run in 2013 which previously had to be ignored.
Wimps are difficult to spot because they collide with normal matter only rarely, and their faint signals are drowned out by cosmic radiation from space.
Professor Alex Murphy, of Edinburgh University's school of physics and astronomy, said: "Since Lux's first run, we have developed several new calibration techniques and methods of analysis. We are now able to look for tell-tale signs of Wimps in data we previously had to ignore, increasing our chances of detecting dark matter."
Lux is housed deep underground where few cosmic rays can penetrate, and consists of a tank of liquid xenon surrounded by sensitive light detectors.
It is designed to spot collisions between Wimps and xenon atoms inside the detector.
Following a collision, the xenon atom emits a tiny flash of light, which is spotted by Lux's light sensors.
The upgrade was supported by the US Department for Energy and the National Science Foundation.
The Lux scientific collaborative involves 19 institutions in Europe and the US.