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6,825 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Maylandsea County Primary School,Katonia Avenue,Mayland,Maldon,CM3 6AD
Received 1 Feb 2007Land At Archers Fields, Pitsea, Basildon, Essex, SS13 1DH
Received 27 May 2026Recycling Centre for Household Waste,Drovers Way,Springfield,Chelmsford,CM2 5PP
Received 10 Aug 2011Springfield Parish Centre, St. Augustines Way, Chelmsford, CM1 6GX
Received 24 Aug 2012Fairhouse Infant School,Fairhouse Community Junior & Infant School,Long Riding,Basildon,SS141QP
Received 30 Mar 2004The Breaches, Galley Hill Road, Waltham Abbey EN9 2AJ
Received 21 Jul 2008Land to the west of, & adjacent to, Cambridge Road, just to south of the River Stort and Old Road, Cambridge Road, Harlow, CM20 2EU
Received 17 Oct 2022Wallasea Island Wild Coast Project, Creeksea Ferry Road, WALLASEA ISLAND, SS4 2HD
Received 15 Feb 2018Land at Rivenhall Airfield, Coggeshall Road, Braintree, CO5 9DF
Received 25 Jan 2024Church Langley Primary School,Church Langley Way,Church Langley,Harlow,CM17 9TH
Received 1 Jun 2000Heathlands C of E Primary School,New Church Road,West Bergholt,Colchester,CO6 3JF
Received 8 Dec 2003Home Farm County Primary School, Shelley Road, Colchester. CO3 4JL
Received 4 Oct 2017Ashlyns Organic Farm,Epping Road,North Weald,Epping,CM16 6RZ
Received 23 Jun 2006St Nicholas C of E (V/C) Primary School,Priory Chase,Rayleigh,SS6 9NE
Received 27 Oct 2009Bishop William Ward School, 22, Coach Road, Great Horkesley, Colchester, CO6 4AT
Received 26 Feb 2013Cedar Hall School, Hart Road, Thundersley. Benfleet Essex SS7 3UQ
Received 30 Nov 2022Roxwell Quarry Complex, Boyton Cross, Roxwell, Chelmsford, Essex, CM1 4LT
Received 13 Sept 2018Facility at Arches Field, Burnt Mills Industrial Estate, Basildon
Received 26 Sept 2022Land between the A120 and A133, to the east of Colchester and west of Elmstead Market
Received 15 Nov 2024Former Civic Amenity Site, Common Road, Great Wakering,The Common,Great Wakering,Southend-on-Sea
Received 18 Apr 200216-20 Southernhay,Basildon,SS14 1EL
Received 29 Jul 2011Thomas Lord Audley School, Monkwick Avenue, Monkwick, Colchester CO2 8NJ,Monkwick County Infant School,School Road,Colchester,CO2 8NN
Received 11 Aug 1999Asheldham Quarry, Asheldham, Essex
Received 15 Dec 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 17 Jun 2022Records 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