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6,824 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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: 13 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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Tile Kiln Farm, Sible Hedingham, Halstead, Essex, CO9 1UP
Received 23 Feb 2024Newport Chalk Quarry, Chalk Farm Lane, Newport, Saffron Walden, Essex
Received 14 Dec 2018Green Acres,Old Packards Lane,Wormingford,Colchester,CO6 3AH
Received 18 Jan 2001The Henry Moore Primary School,Kiln Lane,Church Langley,Harlow,CM17 9LW
Received 7 May 2002Stanway Hall Quarry, Warren Lane, Stanway, Colchester
Received 20 Dec 2013Red House,School Road,Messing,Colchester,CO5 9TH
Received 19 Oct 2006Curry Farm Pit, Mill End, Bradwell-On-Sea, CM0 7HL
Received 6 Oct 2018Essex Regiment Way,Broomfield,Chelmsford,CM3 3PR
Received 6 Oct 1994North Crescent County Primary School,North Crescent,Wickford.,SS12 9AP
Received 18 Aug 2006Haven Road Former Traveller Site,Haven Road,Colchester,CO2 8JB
Received 11 Jan 1999Wallasea Island,Rochford,SS4 2HD
Received 14 Apr 2014Moulsham High, Junior & Infant School,Brian Close,Chelmsford,CM2 9ES
Received 10 Mar 2006Land at Rivenhall Airfield, Coggeshall Road, Braintree, CO5 9DF
Received 29 Apr 2024Land between the A120 and A133, to the east of Colchester and west of Elmstead Market
Received 16 Sept 2022Essex County Council Waste Transfer Station, Chelmsford Road, Great Dunmow, Essex, CM6 1LW
Received 22 Dec 2025Anaerobic Digestion Plant, Marsh Farm, Vange by-Pass, Vange, SS16 4QG
Received 4 Jan 2018St Peter's RC Primary School, Coxes Farm Road, Billericay, CM11 2UB
Received 31 Mar 2000Widdington Pit, Hollow Road, Widdington, CB11 3SL
Received 8 Sept 2021Essex County Council Waste Transfer Station, Colchester Eastern Bypass, Ardleigh, CO7 7SL
Received 3 Feb 2026Bradwell Quarry, Rivenhall Airfield, near Silver End
Received 15 Jan 2014Greyfriars Adult Community College,High Street,Colchester
Received 5 Aug 2003Chigwell Library, Hainault Road, Chigwell, Essex, IG7 6QX
Received 28 Jun 2022Great Berry Primary School,Forest Glade,Langdon Hills,Basildon,SS166SG
Received 5 Apr 2004Crown Quarry (Ardleigh Reservoir Extension)
Received 27 Jul 2016Records 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