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6,824 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Church Langley Primary School, Church Langley Way, Harlow, CM17 9TH
Received 4 Feb 2025Land adjacent to Rickstones Road, Rivenhall, CM8 2SD
Received 23 Mar 2020Southminster Hall,Goldsands Road,Southminster,CM0 7JR
Received 28 Apr 2002Widdington Pit, Hollow Road, Widdington, Essex, CB11 3SL
Received 8 Mar 2024Church Lane,Marks Tey,Colchester,CO6 1LN
Received 23 Aug 2016Rivenhall Airfield, Coggeshall Road (A120) Braintree, CO5 9DF
Received 7 Apr 2022Cressing County Primary School,Braintree Road,Tye Green,Cressing,Braintree,CM77 8JE
Received 21 Dec 2005Highwood Quarry, Stortford Road, Little Canfield, Dunmow, Essex, CM6 1SL
Received 6 Apr 2020Land to the east of Buttleys Lane, Stortford Road, Great Dunmow, CM6 1SH
Received 10 Jan 2025Land North of Dry Street, Nethermayne, Basildon, Essex
Received 30 Oct 2023Gilden Way and Sheering Road public highways and land between Sheering Road and M11 Motorway
Received 15 Jul 2020Bulls Lodge Quarry,Generals Lane,Boreham,Chelmsford,CM3 3HR
Received 16 Jul 2007Wallasea Island,Rochford,SS4 2HD
Received 13 Aug 2012Whitmore County Infant School,Whitmore Way,Basildon,SS14 2TP
Received 15 Jan 1998Rayne County Primary School,Capel Road,Rayne,Braintree,CM7 5BZ
Received 10 Jan 2006Halstead Library,Bridge Street,Halstead,CO9 1HU
Received 28 Mar 2011Ingatestone Family Centre,24 Norton Road,Ingatestone,CM4 0AB
Received 15 Mar 1999Rivenhall IWMF, Land at Rivenhall Airfield, Coggeshall Road, Braintree, CO5 9DF
Received 13 Feb 2024Stebbing County Primary School,High Street,Stebbing,Dunmow,CM6 3SH
Received 20 Mar 2008Thorrington Highway Depot, Station Road, Thorrington, CO7 8HX
Received 3 Jun 2015Maldon County Primary School,Wantz Close,Maldon,CM9 5DQ
Received 29 Oct 2001Tile Kiln Farm, Sible Hedingham, Halstead, Essex, CO9 1UP
Received 23 Feb 2024Highfield Resource Centre, Moulsham Street, Chelmsford, Essex, CM2 9AQ
Received 12 Jul 2024Pitsea Junior School,High Road,Pitsea,Basildon,SS133AB
Received 17 Dec 2008Records 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.

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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.

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