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6,825 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Hogarth County Junior School, Riseway, Brentwood, Essex, CM15 8BG
Received 26 Sept 2016Thriftwood School,Slades Lane,Galleywood,Chelmsford,CM2 2RW
Received 6 Jan 2010North Primary School & Nursery, John Harper Street, Colchester, CO1 1RP
Received 28 Feb 2012Highwood Quarry, Stortford Road, Little Canfield, Dunmow, Essex, CM6 1SL
Received 11 Dec 2019Colbayns High School,Pathfields Road,Clacton on Sea,CO15 3JL
Received 7 Mar 2005Land to the south of Terminus Drive, Pitsea Hall Lane, Pitsea, SS16 4UH
Received 26 Aug 2016LAND TO THE SOUTH OF COLCHESTER MAIN ROAD (KNOWN AS SUNNYMEAD, ELMSTEAD AND HEATH FARMS), ALRESFORD NR WIVENHOE CO7 8DB
Received 15 Dec 2023Willowbrook Family Centre,Willows Primary School,Church Road,Basildon,SS142EX
Received 8 Jun 2005Highwood Quarry, Stortford Road, Little Canfield, Dunmow, Essex, CM6 1SL
Received 5 Mar 2020Halstead Highways Depot, Fenn Road, Halstead, Essex, CO9 2HG
Received 10 Dec 2015Great Berry County Primary School
Received 1 Feb 1994Hillhouse Primary School, Waltham Abbey, EN9 3EL
Received 19 Mar 2014Wivenhoe Quarry, Alresford Road, Wivenhoe, Colchester, Essex, CO7 9JU
Received 21 Oct 2014Barling Magna Primary School, Little Wakering Road, Barling Magna, Essex, SS3 0LN
Received 21 Nov 2022Martells Quarry, Slough Lane, Ardleigh, CO7 7RU
Received 6 Sept 2017Harwich St Joseph's RC Primary School,The Drive,Dovercourt,Harwich
Received 7 Jun 2002Land adjacent to Widdington Pit, Hollow Road, Widdington, Saffron Walden, CB11 3SL
Received 1 May 2014Broxbourne Airfield,Nursery Road,Broxbourne,EN9 2JE
Received 30 Jul 1963Roding Valley High School, Alderton Hill, Loughton, IG10 3JA
Received 6 Sept 2017Land between River Blackwater and Rivenhall IWMF site, Kelvedon, CO5 9DF
Received 12 Sept 2016Bradwell Quarry, Church Road, BRADWELL, CM77 8EP
Received 15 Apr 2024Shorefields School,114 Holland Rd,Clacton on Sea,CO15 6HF
Received 21 Aug 2007Sandon Quarry,Southend Road,Chelmsford,CM2 7TE
Received 11 Sept 2017Edas Wickford Centre, Alderney Gardens, Wickford, SS11 7JZ
Received 21 May 2020Records 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