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6,826 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Land located north of West Horndon industrial Area and west of Thorndon Avenue, West Horndon, Essex
Received 6 Oct 2016Lawford C Of E Primary School, Long Road, Lawford, CO11 2EF
Received 19 Jul 2021Yard 6, A1 Vans And Trucks, Telford Road, Clacton On Sea, CO15 4LP
Received 8 Mar 2019Moulsham High, Junior & Infant School,Brian Close,Chelmsford,CM2 9ES
Received 27 Jun 2002Green Acres,Old Packards Lane,Wormingford,Colchester,CO6 3AH
Received 8 Nov 2012Elmstead Hall, Elmstead, Colchester, CO7 7EX
Received 26 Jan 2021The Colne Community School,Church Road,Brightlingsea,CO7 0QL
Received 10 Apr 2003St. Georges Infant School, Barrington Road, Colchester, CO2 7RW
Received 20 Feb 2012Bradwell Quarry, Church Road, Bradwell, CM77 8EP
Received 10 Apr 2026Land at Rivenhall Airfield, Coggeshall Road, Braintree, CO5 9DF
Received 3 Apr 2025Southminster Quarry, Goldsands Road, Southminster, Essex, CM0 7JR
Received 12 Sept 2013Colchester Quarry,Bellhouse & Abbotstone Landfill Site,Warren Lane,Stanway,Colchester,CO3 0NN
Received 31 Mar 2015Units 10/11,Archers Field Close,Burnt Mills Industrial Estate,Basildon
Received 8 Oct 2001Nazeing Primary School, Hyde Mead, Nazeing, Waltham Abbey, EN9 2HS
Received 8 Jul 2021See ESS/11/00/col,Bellhouse & Abbotstone Landfill Site,Warren Lane,Stanway,Colchester,CO3 0NN
Received 27 Jan 2016Bellhouse Pit, Warren Lane, Stanway, Colchester, CO3 0NN
Received 28 Jun 2012Oyster Haven, Haven Road, Colchester, Essex, CO2 8HT
Received 23 Feb 2023Stanway Quarry, Warren Lane, Stanway, CO3 0NN
Received 5 Jan 2022Janet Duke Primary School, Markhams Chase, Laindon, Basildon, Essex, SS15 5LS
Received 6 May 2014The Tabor High School - Upper School,Panfield Lane,Braintree,CM7 6QA
Received 26 Oct 1998Elsenham Church of England Primary School, High Street, Elsenham, CM22 6DD
Received 5 Mar 2018Briscoe County Junior & Infant School,Felmores End,Pitsea,Basildon
Received 16 Dec 1997Jotmans Hall County Primary School,High Road,Benfleet,SS7 5RG
Received 16 Nov 2009Millfields County Primary School, Bowes Road, Wivenhoe CO7 9RD
Received 9 Apr 2020Records 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