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6,825 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Springfield Primary School,Forsythia Close,Chelmsford,CM1 6XW
Received 1 Apr 1998Hereward County Primary School,Colebrook Lane,Loughton,IG10 2LS
Received 27 May 2005Elmstead Hall, Elmstead, Colchester, CO7 7EX
Received 8 Mar 2019Land to the south of Colchester Main Road, Alresford, Nr Colchester, C07 8DB
Received 3 Aug 2021Land between Beaulieu Park (north of Generals Lane), Boreham Parish, and Deres Bridge Roundabout on A131, Great & Little Leighs Parish, to the north east of Chelmsford
Received 17 Sept 2024Holy Trinity C Of E Primary School, Fiddlers Folly, Fordham Heath, Colchester, CO3 9UE
Received 20 Jun 2016Colchester Park & Ride, Cuckoo Farm Way, off A12 (Junction 28), Mile End, Colchester
Received 8 May 2018Waltham Holy Cross Junior School,Quendon Drive,Monkswood Avenue,Waltham Abbey,EN9 1LG
Received 17 Dec 2009Cressing Primary School, Braintree Road, Cressing, Essex, CM77 8JE
Received 18 Jul 2025Staples Road Primary School, Staples Road, Loughton, IG101HR
Received 3 Dec 2014Land allocated for a new primary school under Land South of Limebrook Way and East of Maldon Wick, Maldon, Essex
Received 27 Oct 2023Bulls Lodge Quarry (Park Farm and Brick Farm), Generals Lane, Boreham, Chelmsford, CM3 3HR
Received 31 Jul 2026Elmstead Hall, Elmstead, Colchester, Essex. CO7 7EX
Received 24 Jul 2017East Mersea Youth Camp (Mersea Outdoors), Rewsalls Lane, East Mersea, Essex, CO5 8SX
Received 5 Aug 2024Cedar Hall School,Hart Road,Thundersley,Benfleet,SS7 3UQ
Received 4 Dec 2000Land at Asheldham Quarry, Southminster Road, Asheldham, CM0 7DZ
Received 26 Sept 2018Widdington Pit,Hollow Road,Widdington,Saffon Walden,CM11 3SL
Received 13 Dec 2011Gilden Way and Sheering Road public highways and land between Sheering Road and M11 Motorway
Received 26 Oct 2018Land adjacent to Glenwood Special School, Rushbottom Lane, Thundersley, Benfleet, SS7 4LW
Received 2 Nov 2015Great Baddow School,Duffield Road,Great Baddow,Chelmsford,CM2 9RZ
Received 26 Mar 2007Tendring Education Centre, Jaywick Lane, Clacton On Sea, CO16 8BE
Received 9 Apr 2021The Westerings Primary School, Sunny Road, Hawkwell, SS5 4NZ
Received 9 Feb 2018St Georges C Of E Primary School, Brook Street, Great Bromley, CO7 7HX
Received 3 Mar 2020Olives Lodge Overbridge,A120 Stansted to Braintree scheme
Received 3 Sept 2001Records 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.

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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