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6,824 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Staples Road Primary School,Staples Road,Loughton,IG10 1HR
Received 12 May 2006Land at Colchester Quarry, Warren Lane, Stanway, Colchester, C03 0NN
Received 27 Sept 2021Cory Environmental Ltd, Bellhouse Landfill, Warren Lane, Stanway, Colchester, CO3 0NN
Received 18 Aug 2014Former St Nicholas CofE Primary School,Church Road,Rawreth,Wickford,SS118SH
Received 9 Aug 2005Hylands School,Hatfield Grove,Chelmsford,CM1 3DF
Received 1 Aug 2005Ugley Landfill Site, Cambridge Road, CM22 6HT
Received 28 Oct 2025Hollow Road,Widdington,Saffron Walden,CB113SL
Received 8 Apr 2005Pitsea Landfill, Pitsea Hall Lane, Pitsea, Essex, SS16 4UH
Received 11 Jan 2023Wallasea Island Wild Coast Project, Creeksea Ferry Road, Wallasea Island, SS4 2HD
Received 28 Aug 2018Elmstead Hall, Elmstead, Colchester, Essex, CO7 7AT
Received 20 Jun 2022Tile Kiln Farm, Hedingham Road, Sible Hedingham, Halstead, Essex, CO9 1UP
Received 7 Aug 2019Glenwood School, Rushbottom Lane, Thundersley, Benfleet, Essex, SS7 4LW
Received 19 Aug 2024(New primary school site),Maltings Lane,Witham,CM8 1SX
Received 1 Feb 2010Newlands Spring Primary School, Dickens Place, Chelmsford. CM1 4UU
Received 2 Oct 2018Land At Martells's Quarry, Slough Lane, Ardleigh, Essex CO7 7RU
Received 25 Mar 2022Myland County Primary School,Mill Road,Mile End,Colchester,CO4 5LD
Received 24 Oct 2006Barling Magna Primary School, Little Wakering Road, Barling Magna, Essex, SS3 0LN
Received 22 Jul 2022Land situated off Walnut Tree Way Colchester
Received 15 Jul 2022Greyfriars Adult Community College,High Street,Colchester
Received Not publishedPitsea Landfill Site, Pitsea Hall Lane, Pitsea, SS16 4UH
Received 5 Dec 2017Stanley Wilson Lodge,Four Acres,Saffron Walden,CB11 3JD
Received 28 Jan 2002Land at: Asheldham Quarry, Southminster Road, Asheldham, Essex, CM0 7DZ
Received 2 Aug 2022Springfield Parish Centre, St. Augustines Way, Chelmsford, CM1 6GX
Received 10 Jan 2013The Henry Moore Primary School,Kiln Lane,Church Langley,Harlow,CM17 9LW
Received 10 Jan 2002Records 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