A war of words has broken out after campaigners claimed the identity of Hove was being hi-jacked by Brighton.

Brighton and Hove Council has launched a stinging attack on the Campaign for a Better Brighton and Hove in the week the winner of city status is due to be announced.

Insults started flying after activists handed out leaflets yesterday accusing the council, the Place To Be campaign for city status and other groups of trying to "trash" Hove in favour of Brighton.

In an incredible backlash, a council spokesman said: "It's more of the same inaccurate, hysterical, resentful, paranoid, obsessive, politically-motivated codswallop we've come to expect."

The bitter row is about the divisions between Brighton and Hove, whose borders are ironically marked by the Peace Statue on the seafront.

Thousands of pounds have been spent on community projects and events as part of the Place To Be campaign.

But the Campaign for a Better Brighton and Hove leaflet said the Place To Be had become "an ego trip for ex-celebrities".

It accused the council and other groups of failing to recognise Hove as a separate location and urged people to fight to stop Hove being "swallowed up".

In response, a council spokesman said: "It's a transparent, anti-Labour campaign, aimed at a Labour-run council, and even people who don't like Labour must be getting very, very bored with it. You can't help thinking that after several years of this, someone, somewhere, needs to get a life, urgently."

The leaflet said: "There are ominous signs that Brighton wants to hijack Hove. Combining the two old councils as a unitary authority has not brought cost savings or greater efficiencies, just more bureaucracy, higher council tax bills and millions wasted.

"Brighton and Hove are two towns with distinct identities. Long may that continue, but the council planning committee includes more Brighton councillors intent on trashing Hove: they nearly got away with the monster multiplex and casino on the beach, stopped after residents' protests.

"Beware Brighton and Hove News. It's New Labour's own newspaper paid for with your council tax but heavily edited in their favour.

"Democratically-elected Green Party, Lib Dem and Tory councillors have no choice in it."

Simon Fanshawe, who chairs the Place to Be campaign, said: "The city bid is about strengthening the economy in Brighton and Hove. We have involved hundreds of thousands of people, from community organisations to children lighting candles and making millennium diaries to businesses."

Russell Hicks, chairman of the Campaign for a Better Brighton and Hove, insisted everything in the leaflet was factually correct and said he was amazed at the council's response. He added: "I think we have touched a nerve. It is hugely entertaining and revealing of their absolute paranoia."