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.
6,830 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn. Received dates in our records: 12 Dec 1938 to 15 Oct 2026. Most recent record check: 17 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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Elmhall Primary School (Now Southview SpS),Conrad Rd,Witham,CM8 2SD
Received 1 Mar 2002Oak View School, Whitehills Road, Loughton, IG10 1TS
Received 21 Jun 2018Kingswode Hoe School, Sussex Road, Colchester, CO3 3QJ
Received 19 Jun 2014Notley Green County Primary School,Blickling Road,Great Notley,Braintree,CM7 7LJ
Received 21 Apr 2005St George's Junior School, Canterbury Rd, Colchester,St George's Infants School,Barrington Rd,Colchester,CO2 7RW
Received 27 Sept 2004Ongar Landfill, Mill Lane, High Ongar, CM5 9RG
Received 19 Feb 2013Blackleys Quarry, (Essex Show Ground),Great Leighs,Chelmsford,CM3 1QB
Received 12 Nov 2007East Mersea Youth Camp, Rewsalls Lane, East Mersea, CO5 8SX
Received 6 Sept 2018Bradwell Quarry, Church Road. Bradwell, Essex, CM77 8EP
Received 27 Feb 2025Cedar Hall School, Hart Road, Thundersley, Benfleet, Essex SS7 3UQ
Received 8 Sept 2022Recycling Centre for Household Waste, Braintree Road, Shalford, Essex. CM7 5HQ
Received 31 Jan 2018Sunnymede School,Mons Avenue,Billericay,CM11 2HQ
Received 20 Sept 2002High Ongar Primary School,The Street,High Ongar,Ongar,CM5 9NB
Received 16 Dec 2004Danbury Outdoors, Well Lane, Danbury, Chelmsford, CM3 4AB
Received 13 Sept 2024Cobb’s Farm, Maldon Road, Goldhanger, CM9 8BQ
Received 5 Oct 2017St Peter's Church Of England Primary School, Myneer Park, Coggeshall, Essex, CO6 1YU
Received 6 Oct 2026Morses Lane Industrial Estate,Brightlingsea,CO7 0SD
Received 11 Jan 2005The Coombewood Centre,Websters Way,Rayleigh
Received 28 Mar 2001Land to the North of Hovefields Court, Hovefields Avenue, Basildon, Essex, SS13 1EB
Received 29 Apr 2016Land at former Queen Street Bus Depot, Queen Street, Colchester, CO1 2PQ
Received 3 Jul 2025Gilden Way and Sheering Road public highways and land between Sheering Road and M11 Motorway
Received 28 Feb 2018Broomfield Primary School, School Lane, Broomfield, Chelmsford, CM1 7DN
Received 25 Jul 2019Land at Martells Quarry, Slough Lane, Ardleigh, Essex, CO7 7RU
Received 19 Dec 2024Queen Boudica Primary School, Cowper Crescent, Colchester, CO4 5XT
Received 4 Feb 2013Records 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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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