Council Plan to build public road through private estate

When you say that the estate "has not been taken over by the council yet", that suggests that you have expected all along that at some point the roads and services will be taken in charge. Or were you expecting the roads and services to be maintained indefinitely by an estate company, funded by annual contributions from yourself and the other property owners?

If you were expecting the roads to be taken in charge at some point, that would make them all public roads. So what is the local government proposing to do now that you were not expecting? Are they proposing to construct a new road where currently there is no road at all (and, if so, how is on which the road is to be built used/occupied now)?

So it seems that contrary to what you said in your first post, that they're not planning on building a public road through your estate? And that instead, there might instead be a public road built through a field that adjoins your estate, that simply somehow joins an existing road through your estate?

Where exactly it would join might be relevant here. But either way, if it's a draft Town Plan, there'll be a process whereby you and other residents can make submissions on it. Put up a strong enough case, and they may reconsider.

Is there just one road entrance/exit to your estate at the moment?

What Uncle Pierre said. The whole point of issuing a draft town plan is so that interested or affected parties can make observations on it before it is adopted. So, yes, you will be consulted about this — you are being consulted right now.

There will be a consultation period, probably stated on the local government's website but if you can't find it there just ring the offices and they'll tell you. Be sure to get your observations in before the consultation period ends.

Observations from residents' associations, etc, usually carry more weight than those from individual citizens, so try to get together with your neighbours on this. Also liaise with your councillors; they will help you make your observations most effectively and of course will be in a position to advocate for you when the decision on adopting the town plan comes to be made.

Also what waterking says — from the sounds of it you are not living in a "private estate"; just a new estate where the roads and services have yet to be taken in charge. Representations based on the supposed private character of the estate will probably not carry much weight; focus instead on the suitability of the existing estate road to act as a connection between two major roads, the likely volume of through traffic, safety concerns, etc.

Okay. Whatever about the semantics of "residential" road, "public" road, building a new road through your estate, or building a new road through an adjoining field and somehow joining it to an existing road, fact remains that this is a draft Town Plan, and you're being consulted on it now in the normal manner.

To go back to your original question, there are probably no legal grounds to absolutely and fundamentally prevent the plan from going ahead, but the plan could be redrawn if submissions and representations carry enough weight.

it seems unlikely that they gave permission for the estate without some idea that the road into the estate would eventually be extended to become a through-route - have you looked at the previous version of the development plan? Councils usually plan these routes decades in advance.

There's a number of estates near me that were built as cul-de-sacs but later had the main road opened up to through traffic, but in every case the through-route was on the development plan already.

As mentioned above, if the plan is a draft then it's for consultation, and this is the consultation. But if the road was also on a previous plan then they're unlikely to remove it from the new one as they'll consider it already approved. You should concentrate your efforts into making sure it is built to current standards for a road through a built up area , with appropriate speed limit and priority for pedestrians and cyclists (see the DMURS design manual that councils are supposed to follow but routinely ignore).

From what we read in this thread the Council are expected to take the roads and services in charge at some point, because there doesn't seem to be any structure set up through which the property owners will fund their maintenance. And they will probably do that at the time when they open up this road to turn it into a thoroughfare, if not before.

I'd say you are going to be out of look here.

Looks like the road was included on the Kildare development plan in 2012 page 83

It was also noted on the planning grant for the Oaktree estate. Aspects of the development were declined based on the kildare town development plan for the road.

The builders knew this was the case when they built the estate. Its all in the public record.