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6,825 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Nazeing Quarry,Green Lane,Nazeing,Waltham Abbey,EN10 6TD
Received 26 Apr 1962Barling landfill site,Barling Marsh Quarry and Landfill Site,Mucking Hall Road,Barling Magna,Rochford,SS3 0NR
Received 8 Oct 1997The King Edmund School,Vaughan Close,Rochford
Received 12 Aug 2002Bulls Lodge Quarry,Generals Lane,Boreham,Chelmsford,CM3 3HR
Received 28 Jun 2007Ghyllgrove County Junior School, The Gore, Basildon, SS14 2BG
Received 13 Sept 2017Cressing Primary School, Braintree Road, Cressing, Essex, CM77 8JE
Received 29 Aug 2025Great Bardfield,Halstead
Received 12 May 1998Land between the A120 and A133, to the east of Colchester and west of Elmstead Market
Received 16 Sept 2024Burnham on Crouch County Primary School,Dunkirk Road,Burnham on Crouch,CM0 8LG
Received 17 Aug 2010Land situated off Walnut Tree Way, Colchester, Essex
Received 24 Mar 2021Land at Rayne Quarry, Dunmow Road, Braintree, Essex, Rayne.
Received 6 Oct 20211(E) Rawstorn Road,Colchester
Received 3 Jan 2003Indaver Rivenhall IWMF, Coggeshall Road, Braintree, CO5 9DF
Received 20 May 2024Cranes Close, Basidon,Land off Cranes Close,Basildon,SS14 3UB
Received 15 Nov 2010Ongar Landfill Site,Ongar Landfill Site,Mill Lane,Ongar,CM5 9RG
Received 31 Mar 1999Land 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 17 Jun 2022Manor Farm
Received 7 Nov 2003Martells Quarry, Slough Lane, Ardleigh, Essex, CO7 7RU
Received 21 Feb 2020Kingswode Hoe School, Sussex Road, Colchester, CO3 3QJ
Received 14 May 2018Birch Airfield, Blind Lane, Birch, Essex, CO5 9XE
Received 1 Apr 2025Unit B, 39 Robjohns Road, Chelmsford, CM1 3AG
Received 5 Aug 2016Takeley Primary School, Bennet Canfield, Priors Green, Takeley, Dunmow CM6 1
Received 18 Apr 2012See ESS/11/00/col,Bellhouse & Abbotstone Landfill Site,Warren Lane,Stanway,Colchester,CO3 0NN
Received 27 Oct 2016Park Farm South,School Road,Elmstead Market,Colchester,CO7 7EX
Received 20 Jul 2004Records 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