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6,824 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Lane Farm,Harwich Road,Wix,Manningtree,CO11 2SA
Received 30 May 2003Land North Of Generals Lane Roundabout, Generals Lane, Boreham. Chelmsford, Essex, CM3 3HJ.
Received 5 Jun 2025Witham Library, 18 Newland Street, Witham, CM8 2AQ
Received 1 Oct 2021Land at Wallasea Island, Essex
Received 22 Aug 2013Mundon Sea Wall, Mundon
Received 12 Oct 2015St. Cleres Hall Pit, Main Road, Danbury, Chelmsford, CM3 4AR
Received 19 Sept 2012Patterns Yard,Nayland Road,West Bergholt,Colchester,CO6 3DG
Received 12 Dec 2011Villa Farm (Cockaynes Wood),Alresford,Colchester,CO7 9JZ
Received 21 Dec 2015Danbury Outdoors, Well Lane, Danbury, Chelmsford, Essex, CM3 4AB
Received 7 Sept 2022Home Farm County Primary School, Shelley Road, Colchester. CO3 4JL
Received 4 Oct 2017Plume Academy, Mill Road Campus, Mill Road, CM9 5DU
Received 16 Sept 2025Blackleys Quarry, (Essex Show Ground),Great Leighs,Chelmsford,CM3 1QB
Received 22 Jan 2001(formerly Manor County Junior & Infant Schools), Willows Primary School, Church Road, Basildon, SS142EX
Received 20 Feb 1998Baddow Hall Cresent,Maldon Road,Chelmsford,CM2 7GA
Received 28 Jun 1952Copford Primary School, School Road, Copford, Essex, CO6 1BX
Received 28 Nov 2022Gilden Way and Sheering Road public highways and land between Sheering Road and M11 Motorway
Received 21 Apr 2020Yeoman Aggregates, Parkeston Quay Depot, West Dock Road, Harwich
Received 20 Feb 2012Nazeing Quarry,Green Lane,Nazeing,Waltham Abbey,EN10 6TD
Received 13 Mar 1962Pitsea Landfill site,Pitsea Hall Lane,Pitsea,Basildon, SS16 4UH
Received 30 Jun 2006Castledon School,Bromfords Drive,Wickford,SS12 0PW
Received 9 Dec 1998Cedar Hall School, Hart Road, Thundersley, Benfleet, Essex SS7 3UQ,Cedar Hall School,Hart Road,Thundersley,Benfleet,SS7 3UQ
Received 4 Oct 2011Elmstead Hall, Elmstead, Colchester, Essex
Received 14 Feb 2022Wallasea Island,Rochford,SS4 2HD
Received 25 Aug 2011Nazeing Primary School, Hyde Mead, Nazeing, Waltham Abbey, EN9 2HS
Received 18 Feb 2015Records 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.

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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