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 · County council
Explore collected planning applications and decisions for Essex County Council. Search an address, application reference or proposal to find a record.
6,822 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn. Received dates in our records: 12 Dec 1938 to 5 Oct 2026. Most recent record check: 11 Oct 2026. Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.
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.
A boundary map is not available for this authority yet. Use council conservation-area and Article 4 guidance above where linked.
Download Article 4 coverage for all authorities (CSV)
Sources: Planning Data conservation areas and Article 4 direction areas. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Woodlands School,Takeley End,Kingswood,Basildon,SS165BA
Received 31 Jan 2012Highwood Quarry, Stortford Road, Little Easton, Near Great Dunmow, Essex
Received 15 Aug 2018Sawyers Hall College, Sawyers Hall Lane, Brentwood, Essex, CM15 9DA
Received 28 Jan 2014Martells Quarry, Slough Lane, Ardleigh, Essex, CO7 7RU
Received 21 Feb 2020Bellhouse Landfill Site,Bellhouse & Abbotstone Landfill Site,Warren Lane,Stanway,Colchester,CO3 0NN
Received 17 Aug 1994Highwood Quarry, Stortford Road, Little Canfield, Dunmow, Essex, CM6 1SL
Received 6 Feb 2020Adjacent to Freeport Railway Station,Charter Way,Freeport,Braintree
Received 5 Mar 2012The King Edmund School,Vaughan Close,Rochford
Received 27 Feb 2006Land at Rayne Quarry, Dunmow Road, Braintree, Essex, Rayne
Received 29 Oct 2020The Grange County Junior School,Grange County Primary School,Elder Avenue,Wickford,SS12 0LR
Received 23 Feb 2000Gilden Way and Sheering Road public highways and land between Sheering Road and M11 Motorway
Received 24 Apr 2020Green Acres,Old Packards Lane,Wormingford,Colchester,CO6 3AH
Received 23 Jan 2013Ugley Landfill Site, Cambridge Road, Ugley, Essex, CM22 6HT
Received 11 Mar 2024Land at Dollymans Farm, Doublegate Lane, Rawreth, Wickford, SS11 8UD
Received 7 Dec 2023Land to the south of Buttleys Lane, Stortford Road, Great Dunmow, CM6 1SH
Received 3 Jul 2025The Fitzwimarc School,72 Hockley Road,Rayleigh
Received 29 Nov 2004Wallasea Island,Rochford,SS4 2HD
Received 21 Apr 2011Rivenhall Airfield, Coggeshall Road, Braintree, C05 9DF
Received 4 Sept 2025ECC Highways Depot, Hall Road, Heybridge, CM9 4NE
Received 27 Mar 2018Greensted St Andrews Nursery & Infants School,Hickory Avenue,Greenstead,Colchester,CO4 3QJ
Received 28 Oct 2003Broxbourne Airfield,Broxbourne Airfield,Nursery Road,Broxbourne,EN9 2JE
Received 30 Dec 1983Gilden Way and Sheering Road public highways and land between Sheering Road and M11 Motorway
Received 29 Sept 2020Beaulieu Park Education Campus site, Chelmsford, Beaulieu
Received 8 Sept 2017Crumps Farm,Stortford Rd,Little Canfield,Great Dunmow,CM6 1SR
Received 2 Jul 2007Records 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.

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

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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 Essex 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