Strained relationships between members of a local enterprise partnership (LEP) have been exposed by leaked emails.
One email revealed that Warwickshire CC’s chief executive Jim Graham had accused Coventry City Council of being desperate and working to the detriment of the rest of the region.
Mr Graham claimed it suited the city to be the ‘troubled partner’ on the LEP and criticised bosses for their determination to grab any government cash they could.
He wrote in an email to county councillors: ‘At times, there has been an air of desperation in the city to get anything it can out of the government’s growth agenda.’
Mr Graham also claimed that Coventry had passed off many county-based schemes as their own and had drawn up a press campaign to brand the city as the focus for business and enterprise.
The dispute has shocked other members of Coventry and Warwickshire’s LEP, with one council source calling it ‘almost unbelievable’.
