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6,824 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Cherry Tree Primary School,Holt Drive,Colchester,CO2 0BG
Received 24 Jul 2007Hylands School,Hatfield Grove,Chelmsford,CM1 3DF
Received 29 Jun 2007Land at Sheepcotes Farm, Sheepcotes Lane, Little Waltham, CM3 3LU
Received 20 Jan 2026Marsh Farm (also 23 Kt 514),South Woodham Ferrers,Chelmsford,CM3 5WP
Received 12 May 2000Royal Oak Quarry, Woodham Mortimer, Essex
Received 11 Feb 201491-91a New Farm Road,Stanway,Colchester
Received 14 Jan 2000Land at Sandon Quarry, Southend Road, Sandon, Essex, CM2 7TE
Received 12 Jun 2018The Plume School,Fambridge Road,Maldon,CM9 6AB
Received 13 Feb 2006Land off Ipswich Road, Langham, Essex, CO4 5LZ
Received 18 Jul 2024Lexden Springs School, Halstead Road, Colchester, CO3 9AB
Received 29 Sept 2015Land between Sheering Road and the M11 Motorway
Received 13 May 2020Crumps Farm,Stortford Rd,Little Canfield,Great Dunmow,CM6 1SR
Received 2 Apr 2007St Giles C E Primary School,Church Street,Gt Maplestead,Halstead,CO9 2RG
Received 24 Oct 2003Coppins Green Primary School,Melbourne Road,Clacton on Sea,CO15 3SP
Received 7 Jun 2010Gilden Way and Sheering Road public highways and land between Sheering Road and M11 Motorway
Received 26 Oct 2018Roscommon Way Canvey Island,Roscommon Way,Canvey
Received 23 Jul 2012Helena Romanes School,Parsonage Downs,Dunmow,CM6 2AY
Received 22 Mar 2007Bradwell Power Station, Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex, CM0 7HP
Received 15 Nov 2012Barling Marsh Quarry and Landfill Site,Mucking Hall Road,Barling Magna,Rochford,SS3 0NR
Received 5 Mar 2009Pitsea Landfill, Pitsea Hall Lane, Pitsea, Basildon, SS16 4UH
Received 10 Nov 2014Sandon Quarry, Southend Road, Sandon, Howe Green, Essex, CM2 7TE
Received 6 Oct 2015Home Farm, Hall Road, Gaunts End, Elsenham, Essex, CM22 6DR
Received 5 Jan 2026East Hanningfield C of E Primary School,The Tye,East Hanningfield,Chelmsford,CM3 8AE
Received 18 Apr 2006Gosbecks C P School,Owen Ward Close,Shrub End,Colchester,CO2 9DG
Received 12 Dec 2008Records 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