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.
6,826 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn. Received dates in our records: 12 Dec 1938 to 15 Oct 2026. Most recent record check: 16 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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Kendall CoE Primary School,Recreation Road,Colchester,CO1 2HH
Received 16 Sept 2010Land North Of Generals Lane Roundabout, Generals Lane, Boreham. Chelmsford, Essex, CM3 3HJ
Received 18 Nov 2024Abacus Primary School,Tresco Way,The Wick,Wickford,SS12 9GJ
Received 23 Jul 2001Fairhouse Community Junior & Infant School,Long Riding,Basildon,SS141QP
Received 25 Mar 2002St Peters Cof E Primary School,Carters Hill,Boxted, Colchester,CO4 5YN
Received 21 Jan 2002Tendring Education Centre, Jaywick Lane, Clacton On Sea, Essex, CO16 8BE
Received 4 Apr 2022Land 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 4 Apr 2024Springfield Primary School,Forsythia Close,Chelmsford,CM1 6XW
Received 27 Jun 2002Highwoods Quarry, Stortford Road, Dunmow CM6 1SL
Received 10 Apr 2026Stanway Fiveways Primary School, Winstree Road, Stanway, Essex, CO3 0QG
Received 28 May 2026Land at Rivenhall Airfield, Coggeshall Road, Braintree, CO5 9DF
Received 23 May 2025The Henry Moore Primary School,Kiln Lane,Church Langley,Harlow,CM17 9LW
Received 21 May 2007Great Wakering Primary School,High Street,Great Wakering,Southend-on-sea,SS3 0EJ
Received 26 Oct 2006Luxborough Lane 2,Luxborough Lane,Chigwell,IG7 6BJ
Received Not publishedBeazley End Pit,Beazley End Pit,Beazley End,Wethersfield,Braintree
Received 17 Apr 2015Maylandsea County Primary School,Katonia Avenue,Mayland,Maldon,CM3 6AD
Received 11 Mar 2003Finchingfield CofE Primary School,Vicarage Road,Finchingfield,Braintree,CM7 4LD
Received 5 May 2006Tovi Eco Park, Courtauld Close Off Courtauld Road Basildon, SS13 1FL
Received 17 Aug 2022Margaretting C Of E Primary School, Pennys Lane, Margaretting, Ingatestone, CM4 0HA
Received 19 Dec 2019Bulls Lodge Quarry, Generals Lane, Boreham, Chelmsford, CM3 3HR
Received 4 Jul 2019Land adjacent to Rickstones Road, Rivenhall, CM8 2SD
Received 1 Dec 2020Star Lane Brickworks,Great Wakering,Southend-on-Sea
Received 21 Dec 2001Stanway Primary School, Villa Road, Stanway, Colchester, CO3 0RH
Received 16 Aug 2017Blackley Quarry, Land to the north east and north west, A131, Great Leighs, CM3 1QP
Received 20 Jul 2016Records 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