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6,824 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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: 12 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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
The Coombewood Centre,Websters Way,Rayleigh
Received 28 Aug 2002Land at Dollymans Farm, Doublegate Lane, Rawreth, Wickford, SS11 8UD
Received 4 Dec 2020Crumps Farm Landfill Site,Crumps Farm,Stortford Rd,Little Canfield,Great Dunmow,CM6 1SR
Received 8 Jul 1996Martells Quarry, Slough Lane, Ardleigh, Essex, CO7 7RU
Received 21 May 2018Margaretting C of E Primary School,Penny's Lane,Margaretting,Ingatestone,CM4 0HA
Received 12 Mar 2004Ormiston Rivers Academy, Southminster Road, Burnham-On-Crouch CM0 8QB
Received 26 Nov 2021Greenacres, Packards Lane, Wormingford, Colchester, CO6 3AH
Received 24 Jan 2017Martells Quarry, Slough Lane, Ardleigh, Essex, CO7 7RU
Received 16 Feb 2026Brightlingsea County Infant & Junior School,Eastern Road,Brightlingsea,CO7 0HU
Received 13 Dec 2006Pitsea Landfill,Pitsea Landfill site,Pitsea Hall Lane,Pitsea,Basildon, SS16 4UH
Received 17 Mar 2003Bellhouse Landfill, Warren Lane, Stanway, Colchester, CO3 0NN
Received 10 Dec 2014Springfield Primary School,Forsythia Close,Chelmsford,CM1 6XW
Received 31 Aug 2007Mill Farm,Mill Farm,Wendens Ambo,Saffron Walden
Received 19 May 1997Janet Duke Primary School,Markhams Chase,Laindon,Basildon,SS155LS
Received 2 Aug 2007Oaklands Infant School,Vicarage Road,Chelmsford,CM2 9PH
Received 7 Aug 2003Langham County Primary School,School Road,Langham,Colchester,CO4 5BB
Received 14 Jan 2002Wallasea Island, Rochford, SS4 2HD
Received 22 Aug 2013Lufkins Farm, Great Bentley Road, Frating, CO7 7HN
Received 21 Dec 2022Land between the A120 and A133, to the east of Colchester and west of Elmstead Market
Received 15 Nov 2024Bulls Lodge Quarry
Received 15 May 2013Purford Green County Junior School, Purford Green, Harlow,Purford Green Primary School,Purford Green,Harlow,CM18 6HP
Received 6 May 2004Land at Rayne Quarry, Dunmow Road, Braintree, Essex, Rayne
Received 7 Nov 2024Gilden Way and Sheering Road public highways and land between Sheering Road and M11 Motorway
Received 3 Mar 2020Between Strawbrook Hill and Great Notley Garden Village,Braintree
Received 25 Aug 2000Records 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