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.
6,824 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Waste Transfer Station, Pitsea Landfill, Pitsea Hall Lane, Pitsea Basildon SS16 4UH
Received 30 Aug 2017Widdington Pit, Hollow Road, Widdington, Essex, CB11 3SL
Received 5 Jul 2023Pitsea Junior School,Pitsea Junior School,High Road,Pitsea,Basildon,SS133AB
Received 22 Dec 2005St Peters High School,Southminster Road,Burnham on Crouch,CM0 8QB
Received 8 Oct 2004Bellhouse & Abbotstone Landfill Site,Warren Lane,Stanway,Colchester,CO3 0NN
Received 22 Nov 1996Hadleigh Library, 180 London Road, Hadleigh, Benfleet, Essex, SS7 2PD
Received 10 Dec 2025St Johns CE Primary School,High Road,Buckhurst Hill,IG9 5RX
Received 7 Apr 2011Shenfield Library, Hutton Road, Shenfield, CM15 8NJ
Received 22 Jun 2023Colbayns High School,Pathfields Road,Clacton on Sea,CO15 3JL
Received 11 Aug 2003Land at Regiment Business Park, Eagle Way, Chelmsford, Essex, CM3 3FY
Received 23 Jan 2024Land off St Luke's Way, Runwell, Wickford
Received 12 Jul 2021Archers Fields,Burnt Mills,Basildon,SS15 6DX
Received 12 May 1993Stanway Fiveways Primary School, Winstree Road, Stanway, CO3 0QG
Received 16 Feb 2018West Hatch High School, High Road, Chigwell, IG7 5BT
Received 21 May 2019Glenwood School, Rushbottom Lane, Thundersley, Benfleet, Essex, SS7 4LW
Received 6 Feb 2025Colchester Quarry (Bellhouse), Warren Lane, Colchester, Essex
Received 5 Feb 2015Elmstead Hall, Elmstead, Colchester, Essex
Received 16 Jun 2022Auto Spares, Station Yard, Great Bentley Road, Thorrington, CO7 8HY
Received 22 Jun 2021Land at Rivenhall Airfield, Coggeshall Road, Braintree, CO5 9DF
Received 14 Nov 2024Braintree Freeport Village, Charter Way, Braintree, CM7 78YH
Received 17 Apr 2012Luxborough Lane 2,Luxborough Lane,Chigwell,IG7 6BJ
Received Not publishedBellcroft,Bellcroft,Eastways Ind. Estate,Witham
Received 1 Jul 1999Birch Airfield, Blind Lane, Birch, Essex, CO5 9XE
Received 8 Jul 2026Howbridge CE Junior School (also CM8 1DJ),Howbridge Road,Witham,CM8 1BZ
Received 14 Jul 2006Records 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 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