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6,824 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
John Ray Infant and Junior School, Notley Road, Braintree, Essex, CM7 1HL
Received 30 May 2014Broomfield Place,189 Main Road,Broomfield,Chelmsford,CM1 7EQ
Received 18 Mar 2002Greyfriars Adult Community College,High Street,Colchester
Received 5 Aug 2003Colbayns High School,Pathfields Road,Clacton on Sea,CO15 3JL
Received 2 Feb 2004Bellhouse Generating Plant Compound, Bellhouse Farm, Stanway
Received 4 Jun 2024Briscoe County Junior & Infant School,Felmores End,Pitsea,Basildon
Received 10 Jul 2001B Lodge, Easton Lodge, Little Easton, Dunmow, CM6 2BB
Received 9 Jun 2015Great Baddow School,Duffield Road,Great Baddow,Chelmsford,CM2 9RZ
Received 6 Aug 2004Sandon Quarry,Southend Road,Chelmsford,CM2 7TE
Received 2 Aug 2012Land at Bellhouse Farm South
Received 30 Jan 2025Stanway Quarry and Five Ways Fruit Farm, Warren Lane, Colchester, Stanway, CO3 0NN
Received 27 Mar 2015Martells Quarry, Slough Lane, Ardleigh, Essex, CO7 7RU
Received 5 Nov 2024Harlow Road,Moreton,Ongar,CM5 0GQ
Received 23 Dec 1993Boreham Proving Ground, Bulls Lodge Quarry, Generals Lane, Boreham, Chelmsford, CM3 3HR
Received 12 Apr 2021Codham Hall Farm, Codham Hall Lane, Great Warley, Brentwood, Essex
Received 14 May 2012Bradwell Quarry, Church Road, Bradwell, CM77 8EP
Received 10 Jul 2026Green Acres,Old Packards Lane,Wormingford,Colchester,CO6 3AH
Received 15 Jan 2013Clacton County High School,Walton Road,Clacton on Sea,CO15 6DZ
Received 8 Apr 2003Martells Quarry Slough Lane Ardleigh Essex CO7 7RU
Received 11 Jun 2020Eight Ash Green & Aldham County Primary School,Fiddlers Folly (off Wood Lane),Fordham Heath,Colchester,CO3 9UE
Received 26 Feb 2001Crumps Farm, Stortford Road, Little Canfield, Great Dunmow, CM6 1SR
Received 8 Jun 2018Gt Waltham C of E CP School, South Street Gt Waltham,Gt Waltham C of E CP School,South Street,Gt Waltham,Chelmsford,CM3 1DF
Received 21 May 1997St Johns Green Primary School Abbey Field, 5 , Circular Road East, COLCHESTER, CO2 7SZ
Received 7 Nov 2016Blackley Quarry, Land to the north east and north west of Blackley Lane, A131, Great Leighs, CM3 1QP
Received 23 May 2017Records 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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Read planning drawings, floor plans, elevations and sections. Use labelled diagrams, a drawing comparison table and revision checks to understand a proposal.

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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