Update: I opted for my initial thought and used & shy ; It does not display and seems to be acceptable in the macro. I am still open to suggestions for a better way to do this however.

BTW this link details the original problem and the suggested solution. While the suggested solution does not cause a break in the site

<%&#xFEFF%>

It does seem to cause problems when used in the form {%&#xFEFF%} in a text/XML transformation type. I got another error when attempting to use is as above in a ASCX transformation.

Please note I am not ruling out a lack of understanding on my part as the reason this was not functioning but for now the problem is solved using an alternative character.