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6,824 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Shenfield Library, Hutton Road, Shenfield, CM15 8NJ
Received 24 Jan 2023Walton on the Naze County Primary School,Standley Road,Walton on the Naze,CO14 8PT
Received 11 Jan 2010Villa Farm, Tiptree Quarry, Tiptree,Grange Road,Tiptree,Colchester,CO5 0QQ
Received 21 Jun 2006Bellhouse & Abbotstone Landfill Site,Warren Lane,Stanway,Colchester,CO3 0NN
Received 23 May 2003Clavering Primary School,Stortford Rd,Clavering,Saffron Walden,CB11 4PE
Received 3 Mar 2010Brightlingsea TPS (Terminal Pumping Station), Brightlingsea CO7 0HP
Received 19 Aug 2021Burnham on Crouch County Primary School,Dunkirk Road,Burnham on Crouch,CM0 8LG
Received 16 Feb 2004White Bridge Primary School, Loughton, IG10 3DR
Received 30 Sept 2016Woodhouse Farm, Woodhouse Lane, KELVEDON, CO5 9DF
Received 21 Dec 2016Highwood Quarry, Stortford Road, Little Easton, Near Great Dunmow, Essex
Received 25 Feb 2019Css South Quadrant, Fairview Road, Basildon, Essex, SS14 1PW
Received 1 Sept 2023Preferred Area K, Liitle Easton,Little Easton Airfield,Little Easton,Dunmow,CM6 2BB
Received 4 Apr 2014Fairhouse Community Junior & Infant School,Long Riding,Basildon,SS141QP
Received 20 Aug 2002The Sweyne Park School, Sir Walter Raleigh Drive Rayleigh SS6 9BZ
Received 12 Mar 2021High Ongar Primary School,The Street,High Ongar,Ongar,CM5 9NB
Received 7 Jun 2005A13/A130 Sadlers Farm Junction,London Road,Basildon
Received 13 Jul 2008Rayne Quarry, Dunmow Road, Braintree, Essex, Rayne
Received 16 Sept 2022Ashlyns Farm, Epping Road, North Weald, Epping, CM16 6RZ
Received 18 May 2023Great Bardfield Primary School, Braintree Road, Great Bardfield, Essex CM7 4RN
Received 29 Jun 2022Gilden Way and Sheering Road public highways and land between Sheering Road and M11 Motorway
Received 25 Sept 2018Bellhouse Landfill Site,Bellhouse & Abbotstone Landfill Site,Warren Lane,Stanway,Colchester,CO3 0NN
Received 22 Nov 1996Halstead Library,Bridge Street,Halstead,CO9 1HU
Received 4 Nov 2005Potter Street Primary School, Carters Mead Harlow, Essex, CM17 9EU
Received 27 Apr 2023Application site formally used by Montgo, Land adjacent to Glenwood Special School, Rushbottom Lane, Thundersley, Benfleet, SS7 4LW
Received 16 Jun 2017Records 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