diff --git a/maven-plugin-tools-api/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/tools/plugin/generator/PluginDescriptorGenerator.java b/maven-plugin-tools-api/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/tools/plugin/generator/PluginDescriptorGenerator.java
index 76e48f8..1d3e1af 100644
--- a/maven-plugin-tools-api/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/tools/plugin/generator/PluginDescriptorGenerator.java
+++ b/maven-plugin-tools-api/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/tools/plugin/generator/PluginDescriptorGenerator.java
@@ -148,8 +148,14 @@ public class PluginDescriptorGenerator
             w.startElement( "plugin" );
 
             PluginUtils.element( w, "name", pluginDescriptor.getName() );
-
-            PluginUtils.element( w, "description", pluginDescriptor.getDescription() );
+            if ( cleanDescription )
+            {
+                PluginUtils.element( w, "description", PluginUtils.toText( pluginDescriptor.getDescription() ) );
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                PluginUtils.element( w, "description", pluginDescriptor.getDescription() );
+            }
 
             PluginUtils.element( w, "groupId", pluginDescriptor.getGroupId() );
 
diff --git a/maven-plugin-tools-api/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/tools/plugin/util/PluginUtils.java b/maven-plugin-tools-api/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/tools/plugin/util/PluginUtils.java
index 94f2ada..462832d 100644
--- a/maven-plugin-tools-api/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/tools/plugin/util/PluginUtils.java
+++ b/maven-plugin-tools-api/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/tools/plugin/util/PluginUtils.java
@@ -715,7 +715,7 @@ public final class PluginUtils
             String text;
             if ( preformatted > 0 )
             {
-                text = data.replace( ' ', '\u00A0' );
+                text = data;
             }
             else
             {