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6,825 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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: 15 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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Park Farm, Belsteads Farm Lane, Little Waltham, Chelmsford, CM3 3PX
Received 20 Jul 2023Roxwell Landfill,Chignal St James,Chelmsford,CM1 4TZ
Received 30 May 2008Chase Lane Primary School,Chase Lane,Dovercourt,Harwich,CO12 4NB
Received 6 Jul 2006Handley Green Farm - Ivy Barn Lane - Margaretting,Temple Wood,Stock Road,West Hanningfield,Chelmsford,CM2 8LA
Received 22 Dec 1997Stansted to Braintree A120,Braintree
Received 4 Aug 2000Lower Hollow Road,Lower Hollow Road,Widdington,Saffron Walden
Received 4 Feb 1994Kendall Primary School, Recreation Road, Colchester, CO1 2HH
Received 22 Jul 2020Stebbing Primary School, The Downs, Stebbing, Dunmow, CM6 3RA
Received 11 Mar 2016Burnham on Crouch County Primary School,Dunkirk Road,Burnham on Crouch,CM0 8LG
Received 19 Feb 2009Lexden C P S,Trafalgar Road,Colchester,CO3 9AS
Received 11 May 2005Pitsea Landfill site,Pitsea Hall Lane,Pitsea,Basildon, SS16 4UH
Received 19 May 2010The Grove Youth Centre,Brays Grove Comprehensive School,Traceys Road,Harlow
Received 2 Dec 2004Land at St Cleres Hall Pit, Main Road, Danbury, CM3 4AS
Received 3 Apr 2020Land at Writtle College,Writtle,Chelmsford,CM1 3SB
Received 21 Dec 2015Vange Primary School,London Road,Vange,Basildon
Received 16 Mar 2007Land adjacent to the M11,Great Chesterford,Saffron Walden
Received 18 Aug 2011Crumps Farm,Stortford Rd,Little Canfield,Great Dunmow,CM6 1SR
Received 12 Oct 2012Southminster Quarry, Goldsands Road, Southminster, Essex, CM0 7JR
Received 10 Jul 2014Land at Dale Farm, Oak Lane, Billericay, Essex, CM11 2YJ
Received 30 Aug 2022Lakelands Primary School, Land off Wagtail Mews, Stanway Colchester, CO3 8AL
Received 19 Jun 2020Land at Colchester Quarry, Warren lane, Stanway Colchester C03 0NN
Received 31 Aug 2018Bellhouse Quarry and Landfill Site, Warren Lane, Stanway, CO3 0NN
Received 4 Jun 2015Rivenhall Airfield, Coggleshall Road (A120), Braintree, CO5 9DF
Received 15 Jul 2024St Peters Cof E Primary School,Carters Hill,Boxted, Colchester,CO4 5YN
Received 24 Aug 2011Records 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