Planning for large Kildare estate appealed

A 180-unit new estate in Kilcullen village which was granted planning permission by the Council on 20 May, was appealed to an Coimisiún Pleanála recently in light of the 118 objections lodged over the original application with Kildare’s planning section.

This is not surprising, however, because it was only in January there was public meeting in Kilcullen of 100 plus locals who collective mantra was summed up as: “no new houses without infrastructure”.

A firm called Oakway Homes under the stewardship of chartered accountant Gavin Doyle originally applied to build 152 houses and 28 apartments, a creche, healthcare units, and offices in a 6.93 Ha (17ac) field south of New Abbey Road (R413), opposite St Brigid’s Well, back in December 2024.

Grossly unfair

Of that 6.93 Ha, the developers own 6.6Ha with the remaining 0.33 that of the county council, but becoming part of the development in order to develop a proposed link road.

The objection is being spearheaded by the Buckley family from Sunbury Close, but how many of the 118 original objectors are included in this new objection is still unclear.

Sunbury Close is a six-house cul de sac adjacent to this controversial site, and the Oakway plan required a new footpath – or “permeability link” as they call it – through the Close.

“Driving huge foot traffic from a huge development down a six-house cul de sac is grossly unfair, and against all the logic of responsible planning,” said the family in their first submission to the council.

Further information

The council’s planning section had sought further details from the applicants during the planning process and received 21 items of correspondence following their formal requests for “further information”.

The council also sought reports from 10 of their own departments as well as from external statutory bodies like Uisce Eireann and the EPA, and all of these deemed this application satisfactory.

A decision is due by 6 October.