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6,824 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Lufkins Farm, Great Bentley Road, Frating, CO7 7HN
Received 8 Apr 2024Land at Colchester Quarry, Warren Lane, Stanway, Colchester, Essex, CO3 0NN
Received 2 Apr 2025Martells Industrial Estate, Slough Lane, Ardleigh, Essex, CO7 7RU
Received 30 Jun 2014Morses Lane Industrial Estate,Brightlingsea,CO7 0SD
Received 12 Jul 200610 Orchard Close, Great Baddow, Chelmsford, CM2 9SL
Received 11 Jan 2022Bellhouse & Abbotstone Landfill Site,Warren Lane,Stanway,Colchester,CO3 0NN
Received 30 Jan 2001Mackers Metals, Wrexham Road, Laindon, Essex, SS15 6PX
Received 24 Jan 2014Tile Kiln Quarry, (Foxborough Hills),Sible Hedingham,Halstead
Received 30 Jun 2006Thriftwood College, Fox Crescent, Chelmsford, Essex, CM1 2BN
Received 19 Dec 2024Wivenhoe Quarry, Alresford Road, Wivenhoe, CO7 9JU
Received 2 Jul 2019Martells Quarry,Martell's Quarry,Ardleigh,Colchester,CO7 7SP
Received 15 Sept 1994Crumps Farm,Crumps Farm,Stortford Rd,Little Canfield,Great Dunmow,CM6 1SR
Received 7 Jul 2000Great Dunmow Water Recycling Centre, CM6 1LL
Received 12 Apr 2017Land at Courtauld Road, basildon, Essex
Received 16 Jan 2013Land north of Bluebridge Industrial Estate, Halstead, Essex
Received 1 Aug 2014Land at Martells's Quarry, Slough Lane, Ardleigh, Essex CO7 7RU
Received 23 Oct 2018Colchester Quarry,Bellhouse & Abbotstone Landfill Site,Warren Lane,Stanway,Colchester,CO3 0NN
Received 17 Sept 2014Kents Hill Infants Schools, Kents Hill Road, South Benfleet,Kents Hill County Junior & Infants Schools,Kents Hill Road,South Benfleet,Benfleet,SS7 5PS
Received 22 Oct 2002Annwood Lodge, Arterial Road, Rayleigh. SS6 7AU
Received 15 Dec 2004Tile Kiln Farm, Sible Hedingham, Halstead, Essex, CO9 1UP
Received 23 Feb 2024William Martin CofE Infant & Nursery School,Tawneys Road,Harlow,CM18 6PW
Received 24 May 2005Land to the South of Park Farm, Springfield, Chelmsford, Essex
Received 18 Jan 2019Land between the A120 and A133, to the east of Colchester and west of Elmstead Market
Received 13 Jun 2022Alec Hunter School,Stubbs Lane,Braintree,CM7 3NR
Received 22 Dec 2000Records 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