The display, which forms part of the town’s well dressing celebrations, went on show in the Market Place on Saturday.

The artwork has been criticised on the council’s Facebook page, however, with many readers saying it should be taken down. Jill McKechnie spoke for many when she wrote: “This is awful, whoever decided this as a fitting tribute should be ashamed.”

Chesterfield Borough Council has hit back, however, saying the tribute was intended as a ‘talking point’.

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A spokesperson said: “The well dressing is produced by 14 volunteers using the ancient Derbyshire art of well dressing, which involves creating designs from flower petals and other natural materials.

“All art is meant to be a talking point and that certainly seems to be the case with this year’s design.

“The well dressing is designed to attract visitors to the area and if the publicity encourages more people to come and visit the market and local shops then that can only be good for Chesterfield.”

The spokesperson added that the well dressing was made by a group of 14 volunteers, who between them spent around 120 hours producing it, between Monday and Friday of last week.

The theme of Diana, Princess of Wales was chosen as it is the 20th anniversary of her death and she opened the town’s visitor information centre in 1981.

The design has been produced using a variety of materials including carnations, chrysanthemums, camomile flowers, cow parsley, leaves, grass seeds, rowan berries and egg shell.