Campaigners in St Ives are celebrating after what appears to be the abandonment of plans to pump chemicals into the bay as a means of tackling climate change.

A draft letter, apparently from the chief executive of Canadian company Planetary Technologies, says the idea cannot be made commercially viable.  The letter is set to be sent to “key stakeholders” next week.

Cornwall Reports first drew attention to the “chemicals-for-carbon” project two years ago.

Critics of the plan say it is morally wrong to create a "false market" in carbon capture and that the answer to global warming is to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

The campaign group “Keep Our Sea Chemical Free” is jubilant.  “We’ve been suspicious (and hopeful) for a long time that Planetary Technologies were not coming back to St. Ives Bay - they just refused to tell us,” said the group.

“This despite the fact that they claim community relations are important - in fact we are the ones who have taught them this.  Our community has been living with the uncertainty of further chemical testing in St.Ives Bay and it has has added a layer of stress to our daily lives.

“It seemed pretty clear to KOSCF that Planetary Technologies were trying to let enough time elapse so that they could make a dignified exit. It's probable they could have told us a long time ago that they were pulling out of Cornwall - it just didn’t suit their PR strategy.

“Is this yet another example of Planetary’s lack of respect for the people of Cornwall?”

Last year the Water Research Centre assessed as “low risk” the proposal to pump magnesium hydroxide into St Ives bay to see if the chemical increases the ocean’s absorption of atmospheric carbon.

The SWW sewage pipe would have carried the chemical about one and a half miles offshore.

But there was no specific environmental impact assessment on wildlife.  The Water Research Centre conducted only a desk-based assessment.