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6,824 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Land adjacent to the M11,Great Chesterford,Saffron Walden
Received 18 Aug 2011Land north of Bluebridge Industrial Estate, Halstead, Essex
Received 6 Jun 2013Land at Bellhouse Farm South
Received 30 Jan 2025Caretakers House,Greensted St Andrews Nursery & Infants School,Hickory Avenue,Greenstead,Colchester,CO4 3QJ
Received 6 Jul 2005Land to the west of Winsford Way, Chelmsford, Essex, CM2 5AA
Received 23 Sept 2013Cottis Yard, Purdeys Way Rochford,Purdeys Industrial Estate,Purdeys Way,Rochford
Received 28 Apr 1998Cobbs Farm, Maldon Road, Goldhanger, Maldon, Essex, CM9 8BQ
Received 24 Nov 2021Elm Hall Cp School, Conrad Road, Witham, CM8 2SD
Received 23 Aug 2013Home Farm County Primary School, Shelley Road, Colchester. CO3 4JL
Received 4 Oct 2017Lufkins Farm, Great Bentley Road, Frating, CO7 7HN
Received 26 Jan 2017Kavanaghs Yard (formerly Toys Yard),17 Archers Field,Burnt Mills Ind Est,Basildon
Received 4 Mar 2005CA & Recycling Site,Hill Way,Roman Road,Mountnessing,Brentwood,CM4 4AA
Received 24 Jun 1998Langenhoe CPS,Braken Way,Abberton,Colchester,CO5 7PG
Received 23 Mar 2009Boreham Proving Ground,Bulls Lodge Quarry,Generals Lane,Boreham,Chelmsford,CM3 3HR
Received 9 Nov 2011Bulls Lodge Quarry (Boreham Airfield), Generals Lane, Boreham, Chelmsford, CM3 3HR
Received 19 Nov 2025Bradwell Power Station, Downhall Beach, Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex, CM0 7HP
Received 4 Aug 2023Bradwell Quarry, Church Road, BRADWELL, CM77 8EP
Received 8 Apr 2025Land at Colchester Quarry (Bellhouse), Warren Lane, Stanway, Essex, CO3 0NN
Received 7 Oct 2021Mountnessing Church Of England Primary School, Roman Road, Mountnessing, CM15 0UH
Received 2 Oct 2020Little Parndon Respite Care Unit (Little Parndon Primary School),Park Mead,Harlow,CM20 1PU
Received 24 Nov 2000Land between Sheering Road and the M11 Motorway
Received 25 Jun 2021Great Tey CofE Primary School,Chrismund Way,Great Tey,Colchester,CO6 1AZ
Received 23 Oct 2002Land forming part of Kingsmoor playing field, Parndon Wood Road, Harlow
Received 5 Feb 2018High Ongar Primary School,The Street,High Ongar,Ongar,CM5 9NB
Received 29 Jul 2003Records 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
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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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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