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6,824 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Bobs Skips, Yard 6&7,Nevendon Industrial Estate,Harvey Road,Burnt Mills,Basildon,SS131QJ
Received 23 Feb 2006Colchester Quarry, Warren Lane, Stanway, Colchester, CO3 0NN
Received 4 Apr 2013Bradwell Field Studies And Sailing Centre (Bradwell Outdoors), Waterside Road, Bradwell-on-sea, Essex, CM0 7QY
Received 27 Jul 2025Land at Rayne Quarry, Dunmow Road, Braintree, Essex, Rayne.
Received 11 Nov 2025Castledon School,Bromfords Drive,Wickford,SS12 0PW
Received 6 Mar 2009Land to the west of Winsford Way, Chelmsford, Essex, CM2 5AA
Received 23 Sept 2013Grange Road,Tiptree,Colchester,CO5 0QQ
Received 27 Jun 2006The Colne Community School, Church Road, Brightlingsea, CO7 0QL
Received 12 Mar 2021The King Edmund School,Vaughan Close,Rochford
Received 5 Jul 2007Halstead Resource Centre, Parsonage Street, Halstead, Essex, CO9 2JT
Received 14 Jul 2025Market Field School, School Road, Elmstead, Colchester, CO7 7ET
Received 1 Jun 2012Land at Bellhouse Farm South
Received 3 Dec 2025Noak Bridge Primary School,Coppice Lane,Basildon,SS154JS
Received 26 Jan 2010Bellhouse Quarry And Landfill Site, Bellhouse Landfill Site 2 Warren Lane Stanway Essex CO3 0NN
Received 10 Jan 2025Woodlands Comprehensive School, Takely End, Basildon, SS165BA
Received 4 Sept 2013Infants School,Stortford Road,Dunmow,CM6 1DW
Received 7 Oct 2003Roxwell Landfill, Brittons Hall Farm, Near Chelmsford, Roxwell, Essex, CM14LT
Received 2 Dec 2011Fawbert & Barnards (undl) Primary School, London Road, Harlow, CM170DA
Received 10 Mar 2017Brentwood County High School,Shenfield Common,Brentwood,CM14 4JF
Received 1 Jun 2007Avocet Shoeburyness MOD Shoeburyness Bridge Road SS3 9XD
Received 16 Dec 2025County Hall Site,Market Road,Chelmsford,CM1 1QH
Received 8 Jul 2005Lakelands Primary School, Land off Wagtail Mews, Stanway, Colchester, CO3 8AJ
Received 17 Jun 2020See ESS/11/00/col,Bellhouse & Abbotstone Landfill Site,Warren Lane,Stanway,Colchester,CO3 0NN
Received 22 Mar 2016Highwood Quarry, Stortford Road, Little Easton, Near Great Dunmow, Essex
Received 15 Aug 2018Records 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