Private Road and Potential Housing Development

[Guest]

I currently own a property on a small narrow private lane. 3 other dwellings share this road and maintenance of upkeep is split between all four of us. One of these dwellings is a large piece of land owned by the council and we have heard they want to develop the land for 70 odd houses. As the road is narrow it would not sustain that amount of traffic and would not be up to highway standards. I am concerned that should this development be approved we as frontagers would be made to pay for this road. Obviously we would all object as we would want this to remain private. And any developments on this road would be costly as the road is very narrow and steep, and to be honest I don't even know how they could widen this.* What are our legal rights in objecting to this ?

[des8]

Hi
Although a private road is this also a public highway?
The metalled road might be narrow, but are there verges over which the public can pass?