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6,824 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Colchester Park and Ride, Boxted Road, Mile End, Colchester, CO4 5HH
Received 28 Oct 2015Ormiston Rivers Academy, Southminster Road, Burnham-on-crouch, Essex, CM0 8QB
Received 9 Jun 2026Stansted to Braintree A120,Braintree
Received 12 Nov 2001Highwood Quarry, Stortford Road, Little Canfield, Essex, CM6 1SL
Received 26 Jan 2015Bellhouse Quarry And Landfill Site, Bellhouse Landfill Site 2 Warren Lane Stanway Essex CO3 0NN
Received 11 Dec 2025Bellhouse & Abbotstone Landfill Site,Warren Lane,Stanway,Colchester,CO3 0NN
Received 29 Oct 2002Clacton County High School,Walton Road,Clacton on Sea,CO15 6DZ
Received 6 Jun 2003Stanway Primary School,Villa Road,Stanway,Colchester,CO3 0RH
Received 11 Dec 2008Elmstead Hall, Elmstead, Colchester, Essex. CO7 7EX
Received 24 Jul 2017Highwood Quarry, Stortford Road, Little Canfield, Dunmow, Essex, CM6 1SL
Received 11 Dec 2019Park Farm, Belsteads Farm Lane, Chelmsford Garden Community, Chelmsford, Essex, CM3 3PX
Received 24 Apr 2025Css South Quadrant Fairview Road Basildon Essex SS14 1PW
Received 31 Oct 2022Clacton County High School,Walton Road,Clacton on Sea,CO15 6DZ
Received 5 Jul 2005King John School,Shipwrights Drive,Thundersley,Benfleet,SS7 1RQ
Received 12 Mar 2004Land to the east of Brickfields Way, Brickfields Way, Rochford, SS4 1NB
Received 24 Mar 2015The Sweyne Park School,Pearson Avenue,Rayleigh,SS6 9BZ
Received 11 Apr 1997Greenacres, Warehouse Packards Lane Wormingford Essex CO6 3AH
Received 13 Jan 2026Church Street Primary School,Edith Borthwick School,Fennes Rd,Bocking,Braintree,CM7 5LA
Received 7 Oct 2004Edith Borthwick School,Fennes Rd,Bocking,Braintree,CM7 5LA
Received 11 Jun 2002Land at Plots G4, G5, G6 & G7 Purdeys Way Industrial Estate, Rochford,Purdeys Industrial Estate,Purdeys Way,Rochford
Received 6 Mar 2007St Peter's Church Of England Primary School, Myneer Park, Coggeshall, Essex, CO6 1YU
Received 14 Sept 2026Harlow Mill Depot, Harlow Asphalt Ltd, Station Approach, Harlow Mill, Harlow, Essex, CM20 2EL
Received 19 Jan 2026Land to the south of Terminus Drive, Pitsea Hall Lane, Pitsea, SS16 4UH
Received 26 Aug 2016Bradwell Quarry, Church Road, Bradwell, CM77 8EP
Received 28 Feb 2017Records 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