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6,824 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
South Benfleet Primary School,South Benfleet Primary School,High Road,Benfleet,SS7 5HA
Received 10 Jan 2008Harlow Waste Transfer Station, West Place, Templefields, Harlow, CM20 2GY
Received 7 Apr 2022Blackleys Quarry, (Essex Show Ground),Great Leighs,Chelmsford,CM3 1QB
Received 4 Jul 2012Copford CE (V/C) Primary School, School Road, Copford, C06 1BX
Received 4 Jul 2022Briscoe County Junior & Infant School,Felmores End,Pitsea,Basildon
Received 10 Jul 2001Land to the east of Guilfords, Harlow, Essex, CM17 0HX
Received 4 Apr 2022Maningtree Library,High St,Manningtree
Received 31 Oct 2006Essex Regiment Way,Broomfield,Chelmsford,CM3 3PR
Received 13 Aug 2001Burnham-on-crouch civic amenity & recycling centre,Household Waste Recycling Centre,Springfield Road,Burnham-on-Crouch,CM0 8UA
Received 11 Feb 1997Newport Free Grammar School,Burywater Lane,Saffron Walden,CB11 3TR
Received 3 Aug 2006Css South Quadrant, Fairview Road, Basildon, Essex, SS14 1PW
Received 7 Oct 2022Oak View School, Whitehills Road, Loughton IG10 1TS
Received 12 Oct 2017Bradwell Power Station, Downhall Beach, Bradwell-on-sea, Essex, CM0 7HP
Received 3 Apr 2024Writtle Junior School, Margaretting Road, Writtle Chelmsford CM1 3HG
Received 19 May 2025Lee Chapel County Primary School,The Knares,Basildon,SS16 5RU
Received 14 Mar 2007Gilden Way and Sheering Road public highways and land between Sheering Road and M11 Motorway
Received 25 Sept 2020Glenwood School, Rushbottom Lane, Benfleet, SS7 4LW
Received 8 Apr 201534 The Square,Rochford,SS4 1AJ
Received 22 Feb 2002Land at Wallasea Island, Essex
Received 10 Sept 2012Harlowbury County Primary School,Watlington Road,Old Harlow,Harlow
Received 10 Aug 2000Wilson Marriage Centre.,Barrack Street,Colchester,CO1 2LR
Received 25 Sept 2007Land to the south of Colchester Main Road, Alresford, Nr Colchester, C07 8DB
Received 3 Aug 2021Sandon Quarry,Southend Road,Chelmsford,CM2 7TE
Received Not publishedColchester Quarry, Warren Lane, Stanway, Colchester, CO3 0NN
Received 4 Apr 2013Records 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