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6,830 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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: 18 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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Frogs Hall Farm,Bambers Green,Takeley,Bishop's Stortford,CM22 6PE
Received 10 Dec 2010Myland County Primary School,Mill Road,Mile End,Colchester,CO4 5LD
Received 3 Sept 2002Ashlyns Farm, Epping Road, North Weald, Epping, CM16 6RZ
Received 6 Apr 2022Bradwell Quarry Church Road Bradwell Essex CM77 8EP
Received 23 Jun 2022Great Bardfield Primary School, Brook Street, Great Bardfield CM7 4RN
Received 15 Jul 202127 Vikings Way,27 Viking Way,Canvey
Received 14 Mar 2000Birch Pit, Maldon Rd, Birch, Colchester,Roundbush Corner,Birch Airfield,Birch,Colchester
Received 9 Aug 1999Bridge Green,Duddenhoe End,Saffron Walden
Received 17 May 2004Colchester Quarry (Stanway Hall),Warren Lane,Stanway,Colchester,CO3 0NN
Received 6 Aug 2009Land at Rivenhall Airfield, Coggeshall Road, Braintree, CO5 9DF
Received 7 Mar 2025Millhouse Infant School and Nursery School, Tavistock Road, Laindon, Basildon, Essex, SS15 5QF
Received 22 May 2014Billericay Library & Register Office,Burstead Lodge,High Street,Billericay,CM12 9AB
Received 20 Aug 2007St Clere's Hall Pit,Main Road,Danbury,Chelmsford,CM3 4AR
Received 16 Mar 2003Beazley End Pit, Docking Road, Beazley End, Braintree, Essex CM7 5JJ
Received 22 Jun 2017Land at The Chase Newhall Harlow CM17 6JA
Received 14 Aug 2017Childerditch Highway Depot,Hall Drive,Childerditch Industrial Park,Brentwood,CM13 3HD
Received 13 Dec 2005Briscoe County Junior & Infant School,Felmores End,Pitsea,Basildon
Received 18 Jun 2001Boxted Bridge, Boxted, Essex, CO4 5TB
Received 17 Apr 2025Bradwell Quarry Church Road Bradwell Essex CM77 8EP
Received 23 Jun 2022Oaktree Gardens, Burley Hill, Harlow, CM17 9RR
Received 5 Jul 2018Wivenhoe Park, Colchester,Colchester NE ISS Centre,Turner Road,Colchester,CO4 5LB
Received 19 May 1997Hogarth County Junior School, Riseway, Brentwood, Essex, CM15 8BG
Received 23 Mar 2017Treehouse Children's Centre, Parnell Road, Harlow, CM18 7NG
Received 10 Jul 2018Goldsands Quarry,Southminster Hall,Goldsands Road,Southminster,CM0 7JR
Received 28 Feb 1997Records 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