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6,824 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Martells Quarry, Slough Lane, Ardleigh, Essex, CO7 7PP
Received 24 Oct 2014A130 By Pass . A12 to A132
Received 11 Jul 1995Land to the north A12, Trunk road at Cuckoo Farm (Park & Ride),Cuckoo Farm,Boxted Road,Mile End,Colchester,CO4 5HH
Received 20 Feb 2015Land at Highfields Farm,West Street,Coggeshall,Colchester
Received 3 Apr 2007Hollow Road,Widdington,Saffron Walden,CB113SL
Received 30 Oct 2007Land between River Way and A1184 (Cambridge Road), Harlow
Received 6 Sept 2022Montgomery CIS,Baronswood Way,Colchester,CO2 9QG
Received 28 Nov 1997Martells Quarry, Slough Lane, Ardleigh, Essex, CO7 7RU
Received 16 Dec 2025Great Wakering Primary School,High Street,Great Wakering,Southend-on-sea,SS3 0EJ
Received 25 Oct 2001Lakelands Primary School, Land off Wagtail Mews, Stanway Colchester, CO3 8AL
Received 21 Oct 2019Bulls Lodge Quarry,Generals Lane,Boreham,Chelmsford,CM3 3HR
Received 24 Apr 2014St George's Infants School,Barrington Rd,Colchester,CO2 7RW
Received 3 Aug 2001Land at Rayne Quarry, Broadfield Farm, Dunmow Road, Rayne, Braintree, CM77 6SA
Received 20 Mar 2024Plots G4 & G6,Purdeys Industrial Estate,Purdeys Way,Rochford
Received 12 Aug 2004Rettendon Primary School,Southend Road,Rettendon Common,Chelmsford,CM3 8DW
Received 19 Jan 2010Land at Bradwell Power Station, Bradwell on Sea, Southminster, Essex, CM0 7HQ
Received 26 Jun 2023St Peters High School,Southminster Road,Burnham on Crouch,CM0 8QB
Received 27 Jan 2000Copford CE Primary School,School Road,Copford,Colchester,CO6 1BX
Received 31 Jul 2003Evegate & 3 Thistley Green Road, Braintree, CM7 9SE
Received 9 Feb 2018Colchester WwTW,Haven Road,The Hythe,Colchester,CO2 8HT
Received 8 Jul 2011Highwood Quarry, Stortford Road, Little Easton, Near Great Dunmow, Essex
Received 12 Dec 2011Area between the north end of Ghyllgrove & A1235 Cranes Farm Road, Basildon & Strip of land along west side of Ghyllgrove abutting Gloucester Park,Basildon
Received 4 Aug 2006Bulls Lodge Quarry (Boreham Airfield), Generals Lane, Boreham, Chelmsford, CM3 3HR
Received 23 Jul 2026Wivenhoe Quarry,Alresford Road,Wivenhoe,Colchester,CO7 9JY
Received 18 Jul 1994Records 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.

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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