The Co-op, which is seeking to build the 15,000-home Pennbury village between Stoughton and Great Glen, has been handed an infamous Golden Bull Award from the Campaign for Plain English.

The notorious awards are handed out for "the worst examples of written tripe."

The Co-op, itself a member of the Campaign for Plain English, was put up for the award by Cascet (Campaign against Stoughton Eco-town), the group fighting the eco-town.

The entry, gleaned from the Co-op's eco-town promotional material, reads:

"The flexibility of the eco-town enables the densification of residential plots that occur at an individual level, with the oppportunity to create the value (rather than incur the cost) that this implies."

The gong was presented by comedian and satirist Rory Bremner at an awards ceremony in London on Tuesday but the Co-op declined to attend.

It was picked up instead by CASCET chairman Dr Kevin Feltham and members Keith and Jan Vaughan.

Dr Feltham said: "This award demonstrates why the Co-op has failed so dismally to engage with the public in Leicestershire about their absurd eco-town plans."

Keith Vaughan, who nominated the Co-op for the unwanted accolade, said: "I hope this sends a very clear message to the Co-op that we do want bulls, but in fields, not in their propaganda."

A spokesman for the Co-op told the Mail: "As members of the Plain English Campagin we work to ensure that all our publications use clear and accessible language.

"In this instance we have slipped into jargon and used a poorly-phrased sentence, where the meaning is less than clear.

"We are committed to wide-ranging public consultation on this project and we will be careful to prevent this happening in future.

"The eco-town remains a major opportunity to transform the Leicester city region."

Golden Bulls have been won by a variety of famous companies and organisations including BAA and Virgin Trains.

The most infamous was given in 1993 to the NHS, which used 229 words to describe a bed.