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6,824 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
St Andrews School,Church Road,Bulmer,Sudbury,CO10 7EH
Received 27 Apr 1995Former Sugar Beet Factory Site, Felsted,Flitch Green Primary School,Tanton Road,Little Dunmow,Dunmow,CM6 3GG
Received 15 Feb 2005Broomfield Place,189 Main Road,Broomfield,Chelmsford,CM1 7EQ
Received 18 Mar 2002Tendring Adult Community College, Harwich Centre, Main Road, Dovercourt CO12 4AH,Harwich Centre and County Primary School,Main Road,Dovercourt,Harwich,CO12 4AJ
Received 21 Mar 2005Henry Moore Primary School, Kiln Lane, Harlow, CM17 9LW
Received 21 May 2015Yew Tree Farm Bridge,Colne Park Road,White Colne,Colchester
Received 14 Jan 2004Pear Tree Mead Primary School, Trotters Road, Harlow, CM18 7BY
Received 9 Feb 2016Belsteads Farm,Essex Regiment Way,Broomfield,Chelmsford,CM3 3PR
Received 20 Mar 1996Furtherwick Park, Furtherwick Road, Canvey Island, SS8 7AZ
Received 24 Oct 2011Land at Courtauld Road, Basildon, Essex
Received 1 May 2014The Pioneer School,Ghylgrove,Basildon,SS142LA
Received 19 Dec 2005Patterns Yard,Nayland Road,West Bergholt,Colchester,CO6 3DG
Received 28 Jul 2011Woodham Walter C of E Primary School,The Street,Woodham Walter,Maldon,CM9 6RF
Received 23 May 2007Barling Marsh Quarry & Landfill, Mucking Hall Road, Barling Magna, SS3 0NR
Received 30 Sept 2021Lakelands Primary School, Land off Wagtail Mews, Stanway, Colchester
Received 16 Dec 2019Westlands Community Primary School,Beeches Close,Chelmsford,CM1 2SB
Received 10 Jan 2002Highwood Quarry, Stortford Road, Little Canfield, Dunmow, Essex, CM6 1SL
Received 14 Jan 2020Land to the south of Terminus Drive, Pitsea Hall Lane, Pitsea, SS16 4UH
Received 6 Mar 2015Stansted to Braintree A120,Braintree
Received 27 Oct 2000Asheldham Quarry, Southminster Road, Asheldham, Essex, CM0 7DZ
Received 31 Mar 2015Bradwell Power Station, Bradwell-on-sea, Southminster, CM0 7HP
Received 18 Dec 2015Birch Pit, Roundbush Corner, Maldon Road, Colchester, Layer Marney, CO5 9XE
Received 19 Sept 2023Land at Sandon Quarry, Southend Road, Sandon, Howe Green, CM2 7TE
Received 28 Feb 2020Doddinghurst County Junior School,Church Lane,Doddinghurst,Brentwood,CM15 ONJ
Received 31 Jul 1998Records 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