Councils have been urged to use less “bizarre” language in reports by a regional political journalist.

Phil Corrigan, council reporter at Stoke-based daily The Sentinel, has called on elected councillors to demand council officers’ reports are written in “plain English”.

In a column for the paper, Phil referenced George Orwell’s 1946 essay ‘Politics and the English Language’ in which the author and journalist argued that “vague, meaningless and confusing language, which obscured rather than revealed the truth, was both a symptom and a cause of foolish or sinister thoughts”.

Phil said the essay had come to mind while reading a report published by Stoke-on-Trent City Council which contained “opaque gobbledook”.

Stoke Civic Centre, home of Stoke-on-Trent City Council

He wrote: “One of the most challenging aspects of reporting local government is having to decipher the often bizarre language council officers are inclined to use.

“Council reports are full of words and phrases such as ‘benchmarking’, ‘framework agreements’ and ‘strategic synergy’ – words that normal, sane people simply would not use in their everyday life. And don’t get me started on officers’ penchant for TLAs (three letter acronyms).”

The report that Phil was reading concerned plans for a £52m geothermal district heat network, and the business model council officers were recommending for the project.

He added: “Now clearly this was a highly technical piece of writing on a very complicated issue, and so a certain amount of jargon was probably unavoidable. But this was a public report written specifically for a scrutiny committee made up of councillors, who are, for the most part, just ordinary people who speak ordinary English.”

Phil concluded: “The city council has also set up its own housing company, which will aim to generate income by building and renting out homes across the Potteries.

“Staffordshire County Council and Newcastle Borough Council are working with a private developer to deliver the Ryecroft scheme in Newcastle town centre.

“If these projects, and others like them, end in disaster, it will be the elected members who will be held responsible by the public – it won’t be enough for them to claim ignorance after the fact.

“It’s therefore vital, to ensure local democracy still means something, that they demand reports written in plain English.”

A Stoke-on-Trent City Council spokesman said: “We always strive to make all of our communications clear and straightforward to understand. This particular report was written to explain the setting up of a company to oversee an energy scheme that will use sustainable underground heat to power homes and businesses. Orwell’s excellent essay should not be taken out of context – the report was not written to be obscure, it remains factual, but we accept that it covers a number of complex issues.

“Where we are investing significant sums of public money we have to undergo a rigorous appraisal of options which will then be scrutinised by government. Sometimes reporting these technical options to councillors at public meetings is part of the approval process.

“We have carried out lots of consultation with residents, businesses and local groups on this scheme – it is a hugely exciting project for the city and one that is attracting millions of pounds of investment.

“Our communication for the future will always strive to stand by those principles that Orwell held so dear – to explain facts clearly and concisely.”