:00:00. > :00:11.Good evening. Coventry teenagers who have
:00:12. > :00:13.The leaf khat, which acts as a stimulant when
:00:14. > :00:15.chewed, will be officially banned in an hour`and`a`half's timd.
:00:16. > :00:18.The move is said to be dividing Bristol's large Somali commtnity.
:00:19. > :00:20.The Government says the ban is supported by most Somalis.
:00:21. > :00:25.Others claim it is criminalhsing a harmless habit.
:00:26. > :00:29.Here's our political editor, Paul Barltrop.
:00:30. > :00:38.This warehouse near Heathrow is the hub for imports of khat.
:00:39. > :00:43.Grown in East Africa, bundlds travel onto Bristol to be sold for ?3.
:00:44. > :00:53.Traders say for many Somalis it s the equivalent of going to the pub.
:00:54. > :00:58.It is a social way of life for so many people, especially members of
:00:59. > :01:02.the Somali community who live in this country. These are hard`working
:01:03. > :01:07.people, they work, they go to school, they have children, so it is
:01:08. > :01:29.not true that khat is bringhng problems to the Somali commtnity.
:01:30. > :01:31.It's thought to be used by a minority of Bristol's Somalis
:01:32. > :01:35.The Government's own advisers studied this and concluded
:01:36. > :01:50.I don't want to see a lot of mothers suffering the consequences.
:01:51. > :01:52.But ministers decided inste`d to heed the calls
:01:53. > :01:55.of the many opponents who lhnk khat to many social problems.
:01:56. > :01:57.Police in Bristol have been talking to the community `
:01:58. > :02:00.First`time possession will get a verbal warning.
:02:01. > :02:02.But repeat offences and supplying khat will see stiffer
:02:03. > :02:06.I'm joined by Councillor Hibaq Jamma ` the first Somali woman cotncillor
:02:07. > :02:14.Thank you very much for comhng in ` is it dividing the Somali
:02:15. > :02:18.community? I think it certahnly is. There are pros and cons to the
:02:19. > :02:24.argument, and it is definitdly something which has two different
:02:25. > :02:29.camps. What about the pros, first of all? A lot of people would say it is
:02:30. > :02:35.responsible for the breakdown of families and it is causing ` lot of
:02:36. > :02:37.men not to go out and seek work and it is masking the underlying
:02:38. > :02:42.post`traumatic stress disorder that a lot of people suffer from. Surely
:02:43. > :02:48.that is enough for it to be banned? There are pros and cons, as I said.
:02:49. > :02:51.What I am really interested in is that the instrumentation has been
:02:52. > :02:56.too fast, and I am worried where it is going to lead to, which could be
:02:57. > :02:59.a car crash consequence for a vulnerable community. What can you
:03:00. > :03:03.do as a councillor? I will be writing to the Prime Ministdr, I
:03:04. > :03:07.will be writing to the mayor and I will be looking into an inqtiry into
:03:08. > :03:13.just how quickly this ban h`s been implemented, because I, along with
:03:14. > :03:17.both camps, have been very worried about the fermentation and how
:03:18. > :03:21.quickly it has been done. So, when it is banned, as from tomorrow, what
:03:22. > :03:26.do you see the problem being in the short`term? The problem is that time
:03:27. > :03:30.and time again, public servhces have not been given time to coordinate a
:03:31. > :03:36.plan to really look at the consequences and deal with the
:03:37. > :03:39.fallout of this. Unfortunatdly, this has not been taken into account .
:03:40. > :03:41.Letting agents have told thd BBC that
:03:42. > :03:44.the West Country property m`rket is moving so fast it's leaving many
:03:45. > :03:48.In Bristol, houses are often being rentdd out on
:03:49. > :03:51.the day they go on the markdt, but there are accusations that letting
:03:52. > :04:02.Our business correspondent Dave Harvey reports.
:04:03. > :04:05.Kieran Hart starts every dax like this ` scanning
:04:06. > :04:09.the websites for a home for him his partner and their young daughter.
:04:10. > :04:12.He has to move fast, as he discovered last week when they
:04:13. > :04:24.There is no chance you can leave three or four days in betwedn
:04:25. > :04:29.viewing a property and making a decision. It is absolutely frantic.
:04:30. > :04:33.The majority of the lets th`t we do, people will view it and thex can
:04:34. > :04:33.offer within half an hour of viewing it.
:04:34. > :04:35.This letting agency in north Bristol is typical.
:04:36. > :04:39.Don't book a viewing for next week, they say ` if it's on today,
:04:40. > :04:42.For economists searching for signs of recovery, this is one
:04:43. > :04:52.And there is a lot more to this than just a hot property market. We are
:04:53. > :04:57.seeing the two faces of Britain s economic recovery. On the one hand,
:04:58. > :05:01.business is booming. Sales `re moving, and people are making good
:05:02. > :05:05.money. On the other hand, pdople are struggling to find somewherd to
:05:06. > :05:06.live, and sometimes, they are being left at the mercy of exploitative
:05:07. > :05:09.landlords. In the centre of Easton, colmunity
:05:10. > :05:12.campaigners are out leafletting Their target ` huge so`calldd admin
:05:13. > :05:26.fees levied by letting agents Anything from ?200 upwards. The
:05:27. > :05:30.maximum we have found so far in these charges is ?500. It is not
:05:31. > :05:35.just a one`off, it happens dvery time someone wants to renew the
:05:36. > :05:38.tenancy, so it could be every six months. One of the organisers called
:05:39. > :05:43.around estate agents, pretending to be a landlord, and they acttally
:05:44. > :05:46.encouraged him to only give his tenants are six month contr`ct,
:05:47. > :05:50.because they said after that you can bump up the fees whenever you want,
:05:51. > :05:53.you can chuck them out if you do not like them.
:05:54. > :05:56.In the letting game then, there are winners, and so there are losers.
:05:57. > :06:01.An investigation has been l`unched into how an RAF parachutist crashed
:06:02. > :06:03.into an elderly woman at an air show in Weston`super`Mare.
:06:04. > :06:06.The parachutist was taking part in a display at the Weston @ir
:06:07. > :06:11.Festival, but crash`landed `way from the target drop zone.
:06:12. > :06:14.He hit a fast food van and the pensioner, who had to be
:06:15. > :06:19.Now, you may have heard the sad news at the weekend of the death of
:06:20. > :06:23.He was a much`loved regional presenter
:06:24. > :06:25.A book of condolence has bedn opened here at Broadcasting House,
:06:26. > :06:31.That's it from us tonight, I'll leave you now with Ian,
:06:32. > :06:47.Tomorrow will bring another fine and warm day, driver the majority. Just
:06:48. > :06:52.the chance of one or two showers in the evening. We have heard some
:06:53. > :06:58.showers in parts of Gloucestershire this evening. It should be ` dry
:06:59. > :07:04.night, and that is how things will start tomorrow. There should be a
:07:05. > :07:07.good deal of early sunshine. Coming further east, there will be a bit
:07:08. > :07:12.more in the way of cloud buhlding up in the afternoon. Light bredze, very
:07:13. > :07:17.high pollen count. Coming into the evening, more cloud coming down on a
:07:18. > :07:22.very weak cold front from the north`east, which could just
:07:23. > :07:27.introduce one or two showers. Tomorrow, temperatures will be a
:07:28. > :07:31.couple of degrees down. It will be followed by another dry and settled
:07:32. > :07:34.state on Wednesday, but it will be changing on Thursday and Frhday
:07:35. > :07:45.Good evening to you. Well, for many of us, another fine day, a nice
:07:46. > :07:54.start to The Week, but not such a great end to Monday because across
:07:55. > :07:56.East Anglia and the south-east we had thunderstorms. Some big
:07:57. > :07:58.downpours,