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6,825 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Bradwell Nuclear Power Station,Bradwell on Sea,Maldon,CM0 7HP
Received 14 Oct 2016Colchester WwTW,Haven Road,The Hythe,Colchester,CO2 8HT
Received 18 Sept 1998Lakelands Primary School, Land off Wagtail Mews, Stanway, Colchester, CO3 8AL
Received 17 Jan 2020Glenwood School, Rushbottom Lane, Benfleet, SS7 4LW
Received 26 Feb 2013Land off Moulsham Hall Lane Great Leighs, North of Moulsham Hall Lane.,Between Strawbrook Hill and Great Notley Garden Village
Received 26 Oct 200115 Church Street (Temp Library),Saffron Walden,CB10 1JW
Received 16 Mar 2007Barling Marsh Quarry and Landfill Site,Mucking Hall Road,Barling Magna,Rochford,SS3 0NR
Received 11 May 2012Castle View School, Foksville Road, Canvey Island, SS8 7FH
Received 18 Dec 2012Stanway Quarry and Five Ways Fruit Farm, Warren Lane, Colchester, Stanway, CO3 0NN
Received 27 Mar 2015Gilden Way and Sheering Road public highways and land between Sheering Road and M11 Motorway
Received 26 Oct 2020Clarance House,22 Watling Street,Thaxted,Dunmow,CM6 2PJ
Received 30 Aug 2007Marsh Farm, Vange by-pass, Basildon, Essex, SS16 4QG
Received 16 Oct 2015Roscommon Way Canvey Island,Roscommon Way,Canvey
Received 5 Jul 2011St Peter's Church Of England Primary School, Myneer Park, Coggeshall, Essex, CO6 1YU
Received 24 Sept 2026Land to the east of Brickfields Way, Brickfields Way, Rochford, SS4 1NB
Received 24 Mar 2015Ugley Landfill Site,Ugley Landfill Site,Cambridge Road,Stansted Mountfitchet,CM22 6HT
Received 24 Nov 1997The Sweyne Park School,Pearson Avenue,Rayleigh,SS6 9BZ
Received 29 May 2008James Waste Management, Purdeys Industrial Estate, Brickfields Way, Rochford, SS4 1NB
Received 10 Jan 2020Chase Lane Primary School,Chase Lane,Dovercourt,Harwich,CO12 4NB
Received 26 Feb 2001St. James School, Guildford Road, Colchester, CO1 2RA
Received 11 Feb 2013Land at Rayne Quarry, Dunmow Road, Braintree, Essex, Rayne
Received 13 May 2022Hare Street Primary School, Little Grove Field, Harlow, Essex, CM19 4BU
Received 11 Mar 2016Batemans Farm, Great Leighs, Chelmsford, CM3 1PU
Received 24 Sept 2013Land at: Colemans Farm Quarry, Little Braxted Lane, Rivenhall, Witham, Essex, CM8 3EX
Received 5 Feb 2024Records 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
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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.

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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