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6,824 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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 Tyrrells School,Tavistock Road,Springfield,Chelmsford,CM1 6JN
Received 24 Jul 2007Crumps Farm,Stortford Rd,Little Canfield,Great Dunmow,CM6 1SR
Received 27 May 2005The Sweyne Park School, Sir Walter Raleigh Drive, Rayleigh SS6 9BZ
Received 18 Feb 2021Monkwick Infant School, School Road, Colchester, Essex, CO2 8NN
Received 30 Mar 2015Cobbs Farm, Maldon Road, Goldhanger, CM9 8BQ
Received 10 May 2019Harlow Waste Transfer Station, West Place, Templefields, Harlow, CM20 2GY
Received 15 Feb 2022Stebbing County Primary School,High Street,Stebbing,Dunmow,CM6 3SH
Received 9 Feb 2007Warners Site
Received 26 Jul 1996Land at Rivenhall Airfield, Coggeshall Road, Braintree, CO5 9DF
Received 1 Mar 2024Luxborough Lane 2,Luxborough Lane,Chigwell,IG7 6BJ
Received Not publishedAbaco House, Foxhall Road, Southminster, CM0 7LB
Received 8 Oct 2020Kendall Primary School, Recreation Road, Colchester, CO1 2HH
Received 10 Sept 2019Drakes Farm,Russell Green Reservoir,Drakes Farm,Boreham,Chelmsford,CM3 3BD
Received 9 Jun 2000Land to the south of Colchester Main Road, Alresford, Nr Colchester, C07 8DB
Received 3 Aug 2021Ongar Landfill Site,Mill Lane,Ongar,CM5 9RG
Received 21 Jun 2002Braintree Road, Shalford, CM7 5HQ
Received 9 Nov 2017Wentworth County Primary School,Maldon,CM9 6JN
Received 12 Feb 2002St John's Green Primary School,St John's Green,Colchester,CO2 7HE
Received 8 Jun 2001White Notley CE Primary School,Vicarage Avenue,White Notley,Witham,CM8 1SA
Received 21 Aug 2002Layer de-la Haye Primary School, High Road, Layer de-la Haye, Essex, CO2 0DS
Received 20 Jun 2025Unit 8 (H) Ladygate Centre,High Street,Wickford,SS12 9AJ
Received 11 Jun 2003Ugley Landfill Site,Cambridge Road,Stansted Mountfitchet,CM22 6HT
Received 17 Mar 2009Former Heath School, Winstree Road, Stanway, Colchester, CO3 0QE
Received 12 Jun 2018Brightlingsea County Infant & Junior School,Eastern Road,Brightlingsea,CO7 0HU
Received 28 Mar 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
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