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.
6,825 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn. Received dates in our records: 12 Dec 1938 to 5 Oct 2026. Most recent record check: 14 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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Cordons Farm, Long Green, Cressing, Braintree, CM778DL
Received 27 Jan 2014Park Farm, Park Lane, Tolleshunt Knights, Maldon, CM9 8HB
Received 19 Jun 2018Boswells School,Burnham Road,Springfield,Chelmsford,CM1 6LY
Received 10 Nov 2006Stansted to Braintree A120,Braintree
Received 27 Oct 2000Land between River Way and A1184 (Cambridge Road), Harlow
Received 10 Aug 2023Land at Sheepcotes Farm, Sheepcotes Lane, Little Waltham, CM3 3LU
Received 9 Dec 2019Shorefields School, 114, Holland Road, Clacton-on-sea, CO156HF
Received 25 Jun 2012Land adjacent to Taylors Farm,Takeley,Bishop's Stortford,CM22 6LY
Received 12 Jan 2009Bradwell Quarry, Coggeshall Road, Bradwell, Near Braintree, Essex, CM778EP and land south of Bradwell Quarry on part of Rivenhall Airfield and east of Sheepcoates Lane.
Received 8 Mar 2012Bradwell Quarry, Church Road, Bradwell, CM77 8EP, and land south of Cuthedge Lane.
Received 8 Jul 2025Shorefields School, 114, Holland Road, Clacton-on-sea, CO156HF
Received 25 Jun 2012Land to the east of Buttleys Lane, Stortford Road, Great Dunmow, CM6 1SH
Received 3 Jul 2025Land at Bellhouse Farm South
Received 5 Jul 2023The Henry Moore Primary School,Kiln Lane,Church Langley,Harlow,CM17 9LW
Received 15 Dec 2010Pitsea Landfill, Pitsea Hall Lane, Pitsea, Essex, SS16 4UH
Received 9 Jan 2023West Warley WwTW,Gt Warley Street,Gt Warley,Brentwood,CM13 3JD
Received 1 Sept 2003The Henry Moore Primary School,Kiln Lane,Church Langley,Harlow,CM17 9LW
Received 12 Aug 2002Monkwick Infant School, School Road, Colchester, Essex, CO2 8NN
Received 5 May 2015Chase Lane Primary School & Nursery,Chase Lane Primary School,Chase Lane,Dovercourt,Harwich,CO12 4NB
Received 6 Jun 2005Ugley Landfill Site, Cambridge Road, Ugley, Essex CM22 6HT
Received 12 Apr 2022Land to the east of Buttleys Lane, Stortford Road, Great Dunmow, CM6 1SH
Received 19 Aug 2026Royal Oak Quarry,Chelmsford Rd,Danbury,Chelmsford,CM9 6TJ
Received 20 Nov 2001The Rickstones School,Southview Special School (Previously Elm Hall CPS),Conrad Rd,Witham,CM8 2SD
Received 25 Jan 2000Stanway Quarry and Five Ways Fruit Farm, Warren Lane, Colchester, Stanway, CO3 0NN
Received 27 Jan 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.

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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