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6,825 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Felmore Primary School,Davenants,Pitsea,Basildon,SS131QZ
Received 10 Jun 2008Southview Special School (Previously Elm Hall CPS),Conrad Rd,Witham,CM8 2SD
Received 6 Jul 1998Birch Pit, Maldon Road, Birch,Roundbush Corner,Birch Airfield,Birch,Colchester
Received 18 Apr 2000Daisy House, The Hythe, Colchester, CO2 8HT
Received 11 Jan 2017Market Field School, School Road, Elmstead, Colchester, CO7 7ET
Received 22 Sept 2014Unit 13,Rawreth Industrial Estate,Raweth Lane,Rayleigh,SS6 9RL
Received 20 Nov 2003Former Heath School, Winstree Road, Stanway, Colchester, CO3 5QE
Received 7 Jun 2018Veolia ES (UK) Ltd, Pitsea Hall Lane, Pitsea, Essex, SS16 4UH
Received 9 Oct 2023Harlow Rail Depot,Station Approach,Harlow,CM20 2EL
Received 30 May 2008Sladburys Farm, Sladburys Lane, Clacton-on-sea, CO154SS
Received 14 Jun 2013Spring Meadow County Primary School,Pound Farm Drive,Dovercourt,Harwich,CO12 4LB
Received 10 Dec 2007Land to the South of Colchester Main Road (known as Sunnymead, Elmstead and Heath Farms), Nr Wivenhoe, Alresford, CO7 8DB
Received 31 Mar 2023Mountnessing Church Of England Primary School, Roman Road, Mountnessing, CM15 0UH
Received 22 Feb 2021Great Bentley Primary School, Plough Road, Great Bentley Essex CO7 8LD
Received 15 Feb 2023Cobbs Farm, Maldon Road, Goldhanger, CM9 8BQ
Received 26 Feb 2018Frogs Hall Farm Takeley,Frogs Hall Farm,Bambers Green,Takeley,Bishop's Stortford,CM22 6PE
Received 13 Nov 1991Spring Meadow County Primary School,Pound Farm Drive,Dovercourt,Harwich,CO12 4LB
Received 3 Aug 2007Rayne Quarry, Dunmow Road, Rayne, Braintree, Essex, CM77 6SB
Received 26 Sept 2024Land at Colemans Farm, Colemans Farm, Little Braxted Lane, Rivenhall, Witham, CM8 3EX
Received 26 Jun 2016Veolia ES (UK) Ltd, Pitsea Hall Lane, Pitsea, Essex, SS16 4UH
Received 8 Oct 2024Rivenhall IWMF Coggeshall Road Braintree CO5 9DF
Received 30 Jan 2026Little Parndon Respite Care Unit (Little Parndon Primary School),Park Mead,Harlow,CM20 1PU
Received 28 Jan 2003Lexden C P S,Trafalgar Road,Colchester,CO3 9AS
Received 18 Jun 2010Roding Valley High School, Alderton Hill, Loughton, IG10 3JA
Received 30 Oct 2017Records 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 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