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6,823 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Brightlingsea County Infant & Junior School,Eastern Road,Brightlingsea,CO7 0HU
Received 29 Jan 1998Former Holly Trees County Junior School,Junction Road,Brentwood
Received 23 Apr 1999Baddow Hall Junior School, New Road, Great Baddow, Chelmsford, Essex, CM2 7QZ
Received 14 Aug 2026Land at Rayne Quarry, Dunmow Road, Braintree, Essex, Rayne
Received 17 Nov 2023Doddinghurst County Junior School,Church Lane,Doddinghurst,Brentwood,CM15 ONJ
Received 14 Aug 2001Land north of Bluebridge Industrial Estate, Halstead, Essex
Received 7 Oct 2013Crumps Farm,Stortford Rd,Little Canfield,Great Dunmow,CM6 1SR
Received 12 Oct 2012Stansted to Braintree A120,Braintree
Received 27 Oct 2000Boreham Proving Ground,Bulls Lodge Quarry,Generals Lane,Boreham,Chelmsford,CM3 3HR
Received 9 Nov 2011Bulls Lodge Quarry, Generals Lane, Boreham, Chelmsford, Essex, CM3 3HR
Received 16 Dec 2025Sewage Works, Pinchpools Road, Manuden, Essex, CM23 1EA
Received 2 Apr 2024Land at Rivenhall Airfield, Coggeshall Road, Braintree, CO5 9DF
Received 26 Sept 2024Land off St Luke's Way, Runwell, Wickford
Received 12 Jul 2021Land adjacent to the M11,Great Chesterford,Saffron Walden
Received 10 May 2010Colchester Quarry (Bellhouse), Warren Lane, Colchester, Essex
Received 20 Feb 2017Maple River Industrial Estate,Unit 7,Maple River Industrial Estate,River Way,Harlow,Essex,CM20 2DP
Received 6 Dec 2012Land At Martells Quarry, Slough Lane, Ardleigh, Essex CO7 7RU
Received 13 Dec 2019Land adjoining Goodmans Lane Great Leighs forming part of Lyons Hall, Great Leighs,Between Strawbrook Hill and Great Notley Garden Village
Received 26 Oct 2001Stebbing Primary School, High Street, Stebbing, CM6 3SH
Received 16 Nov 2020Bulls Lodge Quarry (Boreham Airfield), Generals Lane, Boreham, Chelmsford, CM3 3HR
Received 24 Oct 2024Dedham WwTW,Off Mill Lane,Dedham,Colchester,CO7 6DH
Received 19 Feb 2009Harlow Environmental & Outdoor Education Centre,Burnt Mill Lane,Harlow,CM20 2QS
Received 10 Feb 2006Jotmans Hall County Primary School,High Road,Benfleet,SS7 5RG
Received 29 May 2009Copford CE Primary School,School Road,Copford,Colchester,CO6 1BX
Received 2 May 2001Records 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.

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 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