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.
6,823 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Newport Chalk Quarry,Chalk Farm Quarry,Chalk Farm,Newport,Saffron Walden,CB11 3RX
Received 21 Dec 2011Park Farm, Belsteads Farm Lane, Little Waltham, Chelmsford, CM3 3PX
Received 20 Jul 2023The Wick
Received Not publishedTrinity Road Primary School, Trinity Road, Chelmsford Essex CM2 6HS
Received 10 Aug 2022Land at Colemans Farm, Colemans Farm, Little Braxted Lane, Rivenhall, Witham, CM8 3EX
Received 23 Jun 2016Boreham Proving Ground,Bulls Lodge Quarry,Generals Lane,Boreham,Chelmsford,CM3 3HR
Received 17 Sept 2014Lafarge Aggregates, Alresford Road, Wivenhoe, Colchester, CO7 9JU
Received 2 Mar 2012Codham Hall Farm, Codham Hall Lane, Great Warley, Brentwood, Essex
Received 22 Nov 2012Cordons Farm, Long Green, Cressing, Braintree, CM778DL
Received 1 Oct 2015Bulls Lodge Quarry,Bulls Lodge Quarry,Generals Lane,Boreham,Chelmsford,CM3 3HR
Received 26 Jun 1998Boreham Proving Ground, Bulls Lodge Quarry, Generals Lane, Boreham, Chelmsford, CM3 3HR
Received 20 Jan 2020Copford WwTW,Hall Road,Copford,Colchester
Received 24 Feb 2009Colchester Quarry,Bellhouse & Abbotstone Landfill Site,Warren Lane,Stanway,Colchester,CO3 0NN
Received 16 Feb 2005Woodham Ley Primary School,Rushbottom Lane,New Thundersley,Benfleet,SS7 4DN
Received 3 Jul 2008Heathlands Primary School, New Church Road, West Bergholt, Colchester, CO6 3JF
Received 9 Mar 2012Land between Beaulieu Park (north of Generals Lane), Boreham Parish, and Deres Bridge Roundabout on A131, Great & Little Leighs Parish, to the north east of Chelmsford.
Received 3 May 2022Stansted to Braintree A120,Braintree
Received 27 Oct 2000St Clere's Hall Pit,Main Road,Danbury,Chelmsford,CM3 4AR
Received 23 Nov 2012Alderman Blaxhill County Secondary School, Paxman Avenue, Colchester, CO2 9DQ
Received 6 Jun 2018Land to the west of Winsford Way, Chelmsford, Essex, CM2 5AA
Received 10 May 2013Land between Sheering Road and the M11 Motorway
Received 14 Oct 2021Bradwell Quarry, Church Road, Bradwell, CM77 8EP
Received 29 Jun 2020Limes Farm County Junior School, Limes Avenue, Chigwell, Essex, IG7 5LP
Received 22 May 2026Baddow Hall Junior School, New Road, Great Baddow, Chelmsford, Essex, CM2 7QZ
Received 21 May 2026Records 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