Understanding planning · 13 min read
Planning application documents: what to read first
Understand planning application documents, officer reports and decision notices. Use a reading checklist, document table and worked example to inspect a case.
England · Local authority
Explore collected planning applications and decisions for Durham County Council. Search an address, application reference or proposal to find a record.
6,721 approved · 400 refused · 307 withdrawn. Received dates in our records: 21 Jan 2015 to 7 Oct 2026. Most recent record check: 11 Oct 2026. Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.
Contact details were found on council pages. Check the source for opening hours and which enquiries the service handles.
Explore published planning boundaries and follow their source records for designation details. Coverage varies: an empty map does not mean there are no restrictions. Check the council’s current maps and documents before relying on a boundary.
Interactive planning map loads with JavaScript. Dataset sources are linked below.
Download Article 4 coverage for all authorities (CSV)
Data downloaded 14 Sept 2026. Display boundaries are simplified and indicative. Map record counts are not a complete count of designations or directions.
Sources: Planning Data conservation areas and Article 4 direction areas. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Land At Toft Hill Lane Toft Hill Bishop Auckland County Durham
Received 23 Dec 201514 Maughan Terrace Fishburn Stockton On Tees TS21 4BY
Received 23 Dec 2015Telephone Exchange Parliament Street Consett DH8 5DH
Received 23 Dec 2015Land To The South Of Coachmans Lodge West Law Road Shotley Bridge DH8 0SZ
Received 23 Dec 2015Connaughton Contractors Plant Hire Ltd Chilton Lane Ferryhill Station Ferryhill DL17 0EA
Received 23 Dec 201537 Barley Mill Road Bridgehill Consett DH8 8JS
Received 23 Dec 2015Glebe Farm Ebchester Hill Ebchester Consett DH8 6RX
Received 23 Dec 2015WJM Quigley 1 Brandon Road Esh Winning Durham DH7 9PH
Received 21 Dec 2015Berendsen Laundry Newcastle Road Nevilles Cross Durham DH1 4JE
Received 23 Dec 20157 Hill Terrace Middleton-in-Teesdale Barnard Castle County Durham DL12 0SL
Received 23 Dec 2015Unit 3 Turn Park Station Road Chester-le-Street DH3 3DY
Received 23 Dec 2015Low Thornberry Thornberry Lane Bowes Barnard Castle County Durham DL12 9JJ
Received 23 Dec 20158 Woodlands Chester-le-Street DH3 3TR
Received 23 Dec 2015Unit 20 Ever Ready Industrial Estate Tanfield Lea Stanley DH9 9QF
Received 23 Dec 2015Low Deanery Farm Adelaide Bank Shildon Co Durham DL4 1BQ
Received 23 Dec 201510 Lea Rigg West Rainton Houghton-Le-Spring DH4 6SR
Received 23 Dec 2015Easington Social Welfare Centre Seaside Lane South Back Easington Peterlee SR8 3PL
Received 24 Dec 2015The Old Hall South Bedburn Hamsterley Bishop Auckland County Durham DL13 3NN
Received 24 Dec 2015Land To The South Of Bolams Buildings Tantobie DH9 9SF
Received 24 Dec 201515 Drum Lane Traveller Site Drum Road Chester-le-Street Chester-le-street DH3 2AF
Received 4 Jan 2016Blackets Furniture Store 81 Newgate Street Bishop Auckland DL14 7EW
Received 4 Jan 2016Moat House 3 Chapel Walls Uppertown Wolsingham Bishop Auckland DL13 3EA
Received 4 Jan 20163 West Cottages Cotherstone Barnard Castle County Durham DL12 9NU
Received 4 Jan 201640 Thornley Close Ushaw Moor Durham DH7 7NN
Received 4 Jan 2016Records are ordered by application ID, not submission date. Use search to find a particular address or proposal.
View all applicationsStart with the address or application reference. Open a record to read the proposal, dates and available documents, then check the official register for the latest plans and consultation details. If nothing appears, check coverage before treating the result as a complete planning history.
How to search planning applications
Understanding planning · 13 min read
Understand planning application documents, officer reports and decision notices. Use a reading checklist, document table and worked example to inspect a case.

Understanding planning · 13 min read
Read planning drawings, floor plans, elevations and sections. Use labelled diagrams, a drawing comparison table and revision checks to understand a proposal.

Property research · 13 min read
Understand planning approval rates with an interactive calculator, worked examples and comparison table. Check sample sizes, outcomes and coverage before comparing.
These figures describe applications collected by PlanningTrack for Durham County Council, across all dates currently available. They are a partial dataset, rather than an authority-wide performance measure. The date range does not establish continuous historical coverage.
The approval percentage is approved records divided by approved plus refused records. Pending, withdrawn and unknown outcomes are excluded. No percentage is shown until there is an approved or refused record.
Check collection coverage