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6,825 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Great Easton Primary School, Dunmow Road Great Easton, Essex, CM6 2DR
Received 20 Oct 2023St Lukes Church School,Church Road,Tiptree,Colchester,CO5 0SU
Received 4 May 2004Noak Bridge Primary School,Coppice Lane,Basildon,SS154JS
Received 4 Apr 2007Lovedown Farm,Lower Road,Hockley
Received 11 Feb 2009Land at Bradwell Power Station, Bradwell on Sea, Southminster, Essex, CM0 7HQ
Received 19 Dec 2025Burnham Library, Station Road, Burnham-on-crouch, Essex, CM0 8HQ
Received 18 Dec 2025Castle View School,Foksville Road,Canvey,SS8 7AZ
Received 30 Jun 2010Oakwood County Infant School, Windsor Avenue, Clacton On Sea, Essex, CO15 2AH
Received 10 Jul 2024Abbotsweld County Primary School,Partridge Road,Harlow,CM18 6TE
Received 24 Nov 1997Land At Martells's Quarry, Slough Lane, Ardleigh, Essex CO7 7RU
Received 15 Aug 2019Lee Chapel County Primary School,The Knares,Basildon,SS16 5RU
Received 10 Jul 2007S R C Aggregates, Highwood Quarry, Stortford Road, Little Canfield, Dunmow, CM6 1SL
Received 22 Apr 2014Kelvedon Road / Tiptree,Colchester Quarry (Stanway Hall),Warren Lane,Stanway,Colchester,CO3 0NN
Received 24 Jul 1996Great Berry Primary School,Forest Glade,Langdon Hills,Basildon,SS166SG
Received 17 Dec 2009Ashlyns Farm, Epping Road, North Weald, Epping, CM16 6RZ
Received 1 Aug 2025Park Farm Belsteads Farm Lane Chelmsford Garden Community Chelmsford Essex CM3 3PX
Received 3 Sept 2026St Michaels County Primary School, Camulodunum Way, COLCHESTER, CO2 9RA
Received 1 Jul 2016Columbus School and College,Patching Hall Lane,Chelmsford,CM1 4BX
Received 9 Dec 2009Old Brickfield Site, Epping Road,Old Brickfield Site,Epping Road,Roydon,Harlow
Received 13 Oct 2000Land at Rivenhall Airfield Coggeshall Road, Braintree, CO5 9DF
Received 27 Apr 2023Green Acres,Old Packards Lane,Wormingford,Colchester,CO6 3AH
Received 27 Oct 1998Application site formally used by Montgo, Land adjacent to Glenwood Special School, Rushbottom Lane, Thundersley, Benfleet, SS7 4LW
Received 3 Jun 2016Land adjacent to Widdington Pit, Hollow Road, Widdington, Saffron Walden, CB11 3SL
Received 1 May 2014Area of Open Space north of Church End Lane, Runwell, SS11 7DS
Received 18 Jun 2025Records 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
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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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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