Birmingham will have not one but two Paris Plage-style tourist attractions this summer with the city's major institutions going head-to-head in an extraordinary battle of the beaches.

The Bullring shopping centre last night announced it would be opening its own free beach and accused the city council of copying the idea by pressing ahead with a rival muncipal beach in Chamberlain Square.

Angry Bullring officials said they were shocked when they discovered a month ago the council was to go ahead with a beach at a cost of £50,000, to be paid for by airline sponsor bmibaby.

The move was even more unexpected since the Bullring had confidentially briefed council bosses in February about its intention to spend £150,000 on a beach in St Martin's Square.

However, council sources dismissed the row pointing out the local authority had been planning its beach since last summer's successful World Cup beach football at Millennium Point. Local authority officials attempted to negotiate in an attempt to share the Bullring beach, but were unable to reach agreement on costs, location or the way the beach would be used.

When talks broke down, the council moved to close the deal with bmibaby.

Bullring general manager Tim Walley yesterday urged the council to drop its plans and allow the shopping centre a clear run.

He feared the two beaches would cancel each other out and The Bullring was the obvious place for such an attraction because of the huge number of visitors.

"We told the council our big event this summer would be a beach," he explained. "They said maybe they could help us out and we said we could work together.

"We briefed them on what we wanted to achieve but they came back and said it didn't fit in with their approach. They wouldn't allow us to market the beach as we wanted.

"We hope by making our objections more public, the council will consider investing in an alternative venture which, if it provides an attraction to bring additional visitors to the city, Bullring would whole heartedly support as we have always done in the past."

A Bullring spokeswoman said: "Following our briefing meeting with Birmingham City Council in February where Bullring openly shared all plans, including planned events such as staging beach volleyball events, we were surprised to hear in April the council had decided to stage its own beach, which seemed to share similar features to our Bullring Beach.

"Bullring has heavily invested in time spent liaising and briefing key organisations, including the council, to ensure the Bullring beach can be an initiative everyone across the city can get something out of."

She said planning for the Bullring beach had been under way since January and would include free events such as live bands, appearances from Olympic athletes, fashion shows and family attractions.

The spokeswoman added: "We feel there is limited benefit for the city if the council simply replicates the Bullring beach.

"The council is not providing its residents or potential visitors with something unique, in fact the duplication of an identical leisure facility will neither attract additional visitors nor seem to be good use of funds."

The Chamberlain Square beach will open on June 25 and close on September 16.

It will run in conjunction with the BBC TV Big Screen, which will be used for ballet and opera nights.

Mike Whitby, the leader of Birmingham City Council, said: "I am pleased the Bullring wants to run its own beach event and wish them every success."