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6,825 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Crumps Farm,Stortford Rd,Little Canfield,Great Dunmow,CM6 1SR
Received 14 Dec 2006Helena Romanes School,Parsonage Downs,Dunmow,CM6 2AY
Received 20 Aug 2003Land at Rayne Quarry Dunmow Road Braintree, Essex Rayne
Received 10 Feb 2022Wick Farm, Ardleigh RESERVOIR,Crown Quarry (Ardleigh Reservoir Extension),Old Ipswich Road,Tendring,Colchester,CO7 7QR
Received 7 Jul 2011Oakfield Primary School,Scott Drive,Wickford,SS12 9PW
Received 11 Aug 1998Yard A,Morses Lane Industrial Estate,Brightlingsea,CO7 0SD
Received 14 Dec 2010Bluehouse Junior & Infant School, Leinster Road, Laindon, Basildon
Received Not publishedBellhouse & Abbotstone Landfill Site,Warren Lane,Stanway,Colchester,CO3 0NN
Received 25 Jun 2002St Peters Cof E Primary School,Carters Hill,Boxted, Colchester,CO4 5YN
Received 10 Feb 2012Anglo European High School,Willow Green,Ingatestone,CM4 0DJ
Received 23 Jun 2006Limes Farm County Junior and Infant Schools,Limes Avenue,Chigwell,IG7 5LP
Received 22 Oct 1999Great Tey CofE Primary School,Chrismund Way,Great Tey,Colchester,CO6 1AZ
Received 29 Oct 2002Stanley Drapkin County Primary School,Bower Hall Drive,Steeple Bumpstead,Haverhill,CB9 7ED
Received 18 Apr 2007Former St Marys Primary School, St Johns Road, Stansted Mountfitchet, CM24 8JP
Received 13 Dec 2016Haverhill Recycling Facility, Plot 7, Phoenix Road, Haverhill, Haverhill Business Park, CB9 7AE
Received 30 Jul 2021Bellhouse Quarry and Landfill Site, Warren Lane, Stanway
Received 14 Apr 2015Gilden Way and Sheering Road public highways and land between Sheering Road and M11 Motorway
Received 25 Jun 2021Land at Bellhouse Farm South
Received 30 Jan 2025Ford End C Of E Primary School, Main Road, Ford End, Chelmsford, CM3 1LQ
Received 16 Jul 2015Birch CofE Primary School,School Hill,Birch,Colchester,CO2 0LZ
Received 21 Feb 2007Land at Westbarrow Hall Farm,Pelhams Farm,Cherry Orchard Lane,Rochford
Received 20 Jun 1996Belchamp St Paul's CofE (VA) Primary School,Vicarage Road,,Belchamp St Paul,Sudbury,CO10 7BP
Received 31 Jul 2003Codham Hall Farm, Codham Hall Lane, Great Warley, Brentwood, Essex
Received 1 Mar 2013Land at Greenacres, Packards Lane, Wormingford
Received 9 Apr 2018Records 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.

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