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6,830 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Land north of Bluebridge Industrial Estate,Halstead,CM9 2SZ
Received Not publishedStansted to Braintree A120,Braintree
Received 4 Aug 2000Lawford Mead Infants School & Nursery,Trent Road,Chelmsford
Received 8 Nov 2002Ashlyns Farm, Epping Road, North Weald, Epping, CM16 6RZ
Received 16 Dec 2022Cobbs Farm, Maldon Road, Goldhanger, CM9 8BQ
Received 16 Jan 2019Monkwick Junior School, School Road, Colchester, CO2 8NN
Received 8 Mar 2019Barnes Farm Infant & Junior Schools,Henniker Gate,Chelmer Village,Chelmsford,CM2 6QH
Received 30 Jan 1998Moulsham Infant and Junior Schools, Princes Road, Chelmsford, CM2 9DG
Received 12 Oct 2015Myland County Primary School, Mill Road, Mile End, Colchester, Essex, CO4 5LD
Received 15 May 2025Newport Free Grammar School,Burywater Lane,Saffron Walden,CB11 3TR
Received 29 Nov 2005Essex Record Office, Wharf Road, Chelmsford, Essex, CM2 6YT
Received 6 Jun 2022Gilden Way and Sheering Road public highways and land between Sheering Road and M11 Motorway
Received 13 May 2020Evegate, 1 Thistley Green Road, Braintree, CM7 9SE
Received 21 Nov 2017Martells Quarry, Slough Lane, Ardleigh, Essex, CO7 7RU
Received 16 Dec 2025Preferred Area K, Liitle Easton,Little Easton Airfield,Little Easton,Dunmow,CM6 2BB
Received 12 Dec 2011Stanway Quarry and Five Ways Fruit Farm, Warren Lane, Colchester, Stanway, CO3 0NN
Received 15 Apr 2015Bobs Skips, Yard 6&7,Nevendon Industrial Estate,Harvey Road,Burnt Mills,Basildon,SS131QJ
Received 27 Sept 2005Avocet, Shoeburyness MOD, Shoeburyness, Bridge Road, SS3 9XD
Received 1 Apr 2026Land to the south of Colchester Main Road, Alresford, Nr Colchester, C07 8DB
Received 4 Oct 2022Land at Martells Quarry, Slough Lane, Ardleigh, Essex, CO7 7RU
Received 4 Mar 2026Wivenhoe Quarry, Alresford Road, Wivenhoe, Essex, CO7 9JU
Received 12 Oct 2015Land to the South of Colchester Main Road (known as Sunnymead, Elmstead and Heath Farms), Alresford, Essex, C07 8DB
Received 17 Oct 2022Staples Road Primary School, Staples Road, Loughton, IG101HR
Received 3 Dec 2014The Roding Valley High School,Alderton Hill,Loughton,IG10 3JA
Received 9 Dec 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
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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