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6,825 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 12 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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Doddinghurst County Junior School,Church Lane,Doddinghurst,Brentwood,CM15 ONJ
Received 14 Aug 2001Wallasea Island,Rochford,SS4 2HD
Received 4 May 2012Recycling Centre For Household Waste, Braintree Road, Shalford, Essex. CM7 5HQ
Received 26 Sept 2017A127/A130 Fairglen Interchange
Received 2 Sept 2020Laindon Park Primary School, Church Hill, Basildon, Laindon, Essex, SS15 5SE
Received 6 Jun 2014Latton Green County Primary School,Riddings Lane,Latton Green,Harlow,CM18 7HT
Received 3 Oct 2001Land adjacent to Church Lane, Marks Tey, Colchester
Received 24 Nov 2022Fairhouse Community Junior & Infant School,Long Riding,Basildon,SS141QP
Received 25 Mar 2002Newport C P School,Frambury Lane,Newport,Saffron Walden
Received 13 May 2005Land at Wallasea Island, Rochford, SS4 2HD
Received 21 Apr 2015Leigh Beck Infant School,Leigh Beck County Junior and Infant Schools & Nursery,Point Road,Canvey,SS8 7TD
Received 7 Dec 2004Kingswode Hoe School, Sussex Road, Colchester, CO3 3QJ
Received 17 Sept 2018Former Hare Street Infant School,Hare Street Primary School and Nursery,Little Grove Field,Harlow,CM19 4BU
Received 11 May 2005Bradwell Quarry, Church Road, Bradwell, CM77 8EP, and land east of Sheepcotes Lane
Received 28 Aug 2019Heatherland Composting,Stondon Hall Farm,Stondon Massey,Ongar,CM15 0LD
Received 23 Oct 1998Marks Tey Bricks, Church Lane, Marks Tey, Colchester, Essex, CO6 1LN.
Received 20 Sept 2018Green Acres,Old Packards Lane,Wormingford,Colchester,CO6 3AH
Received 2 Feb 2011Newport Chalk Quarry, Chalk Farm Lane, Newport, Saffron Walden, Essex
Received 14 Sept 2020Island Golf, Castle Point Golf Club, Somnes Avenue, Canvey Island, SS8 9FG
Received 10 May 2012Land to the east of Buttleys Lane, Stortford Road, Great Dunmow, CM6 1SH
Received 3 Jul 2026Wilson Marriage Centre.,Barrack Street,Colchester,CO1 2LR
Received 25 Sept 2007Hillhouse Primary School, Waltham Abbey, EN9 3EL
Received 24 Mar 2014Castle View School,Foksville Road,Canvey,SS8 7AZ
Received 8 Feb 2010Halstead Sewage Treatment Works, Langley Mill Lane, Halstead, Essex
Received Not publishedRecords 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.

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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