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6,825 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Hamford C P School, Elm Tree Avenue, Walton On The Naze, CO14 8TE
Received 28 Sept 2018The Sweyne Park School, Sir Walter Raleigh Drive, Rayleigh, SS6 9BZ
Received 11 May 2021GBN Services Ltd,Purdeys Industrial Estate,Purdeys Way,Rochford
Received 26 Oct 2006Crumps Farm,Stortford Rd,Little Canfield,Great Dunmow,CM6 1SR
Received 4 Sept 2013Roscommon Way,Canvey
Received 3 Oct 2006Notley High School,Notley High School,Notley Road,Braintree,CM7 1HL
Received 11 Nov 2008Land allocated for a new primary school under Land South of Limebrook Way and East of Maldon Wick, Maldon, Essex
Received 22 May 2023Former Goods Yard, Brook Street, Chelmsford, Essex, CM1 1SU
Received 25 Jun 2013Former Furtherwick Park School,Castle View School,Foksville Road,Canvey,SS8 7AZ
Received 25 May 2010Brickhouse Farm Community Centre, Poulton Close, Maldon, CM9
Received 9 Jan 2019Land north of Bluebridge Industrial Estate,Halstead,CM9 2SZ
Received 22 Apr 2013Weald Country Park,South Weald,Brentwood
Received 3 Dec 1998Land At Archers Fields, Pitsea, Basildon, Essex, SS13 1DH
Received 27 May 2026Rivenhall Airfield,Bradwell Quarry,Coggeshall Road,Bradwell,Braintree,CM77 8EP
Received 5 Aug 2005Brightlingsea Quarry, Moverons Lane, Brightlingsea, CO7 0SB
Received 15 Jan 2025Harlow Fields School,Tendring Road,Harlow,CM18 6RN
Received 25 Nov 1998Land to the east of Buttleys Lane, Stortford Road, Great Dunmow, CM6 1SH
Received 14 Feb 2024Cobbs Farm, Maldon Road, Goldhanger, CM9 8BQ
Received 10 May 2019Ugley Landfill Site,Ugley Landfill Site,Cambridge Road,Stansted Mountfitchet,CM22 6HT
Received 16 Jul 1999St. Georges New Town Junior School, Canterbury Road, Colchester, CO2 7RU
Received 18 Mar 2014Haven Quay, Quayside, Haven Road, Colchester, CO2 8HT
Received 6 Feb 2012Bulls Lodge Quarry, Generals Lane, Boreham, Chelmsford, CM3 3HR
Received 10 Jul 2015Barnards Pit,Barnards Farm Pit,Hatfield Peverel,Chelmsford
Received 6 Apr 1994Park Farm, Park Lane, Tolleshunt Knights, Maldon, CM9 8HB
Received 2 Apr 2012Records 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