Council CEO Bruce Francis said despite the vocal protests of landowners in the Arno Bay and Tumby Bay districts, there had been very little response from Cowell landowners to newly-defined coastal zones.

However, Council wants a “more realistic interpretation of coastal zones”, Bruce said.

“The label ‘coastal’ should only include clearly identifiable coasting feature - dunes, samphire, coastal cliffs,” he said.

“Land that has been consistently farmed for 100 years is clearly not coastal.

“Some of the ‘coastal’ areas defined in the national parks are as much as five, six, seven kilometres back from the beach.

“We met with PlanningSA earlier in the year and we expressed our concerns then. We were assured there’d be more meetings and that’s what’s happening now – and all we can do is express our concerns as a group of councils.”

The Cowell CEO dismissed recent reports about the new coastal zoning in the Eyre Peninsula Tribune (June 18, 2009) as ‘over the top’.

“No one is stealing land, it’s just a zoning issue – but I can understand that people have their concerns. We also have concerns as a council which we’re trying to address.”