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6,825 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Edith Borthwick School,Fennes Rd,Bocking,Braintree,CM7 5LA
Received 12 Jun 2009Lexden Springs School,Halstead Road,Colchester,CO3 9AB
Received 9 Jun 2011Chancellor Park,Land adjacent to Brook End Road,Chelmsford
Received Not publishedBurnham Library Station Road Burnham-on-Crouch Essex CM0 8HQ
Received 11 Feb 2026Crumps Farm,Stortford Rd,Little Canfield,Great Dunmow,CM6 1SR
Received 12 Oct 2012Lee Chapel County Primary School,The Knares,Basildon,SS16 5RU
Received 17 Jan 2000Land to the east of Buttleys Lane, Stortford Road, Great Dunmow, CM6 1SH
Received 13 Jun 2025Land at Rayne Quarry, Dunmow Road, Braintree, Essex, Rayne
Received 12 Aug 2022Great Bradfords Infant School,Marlborough Road,Braintree,CM7 9LW
Received 4 Aug 2003Land at Bellhouse Farm South
Received 30 Jan 2025Css South Quadrant, Fairview Road, Basildon, Essex, SS14 1PW
Received 7 Oct 2022Hereward County Primary School,Colebrook Lane,Loughton,IG10 2LS
Received 11 Jul 2000Springfield Primary School,Forsythia Close,Chelmsford,CM1 6XW
Received 21 Dec 2009Boreham Proving Ground,Bulls Lodge Quarry,Generals Lane,Boreham,Chelmsford,CM3 3HR
Received 17 Sept 2014Vacant Land, Circular Road East, Colchester
Received 21 Aug 2013Broxbourne Airfield,Nursery Road,Broxbourne,EN9 2JE
Received 14 Aug 1978Bulls Lodge Quarry,Generals Lane,Boreham,Chelmsford,CM3 3HR
Received 23 Jul 2003Danbury County Youth Camp,Well Lane,Danbury,Chelmsford,CM3 4AB
Received 4 Feb 2004Bellhouse Landfill Site,Bellhouse & Abbotstone Landfill Site,Warren Lane,Stanway,Colchester,CO3 0NN
Received 10 Jul 1998Canvey Island WRC, Thames Road, Canvey Island, SS8 0HR
Received 29 Apr 2016Quayside Park,Bates Road,Maldon,CM9 5FA
Received 22 Dec 2009Land adjacent to Park Farm, Channels Drive, Boreham, Chelmsford, CM3 3PX
Received 17 Aug 2023Former Kores Nordic Site,West Road,Harlow,CM20 2AL
Received 19 Feb 2013Land at Sandon Quarry, Southend Road, Sandon, Essex, CM2 7TE
Received 23 Apr 2019Records 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