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6,830 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Great Leighs Primary School,Aragon Road,Great Leighs,Chelmsford
Received 21 Dec 2004The Cornelius Vermuyden School,Dinant Avenue,Canvey,SS8 9SQ
Received 8 Feb 2010Roscommon Way Canvey Island,Roscommon Way,Canvey
Received 21 Dec 2011Rayleigh East WwTW,Connaught Road,Rayleigh,SS6 8NW
Received 24 Jul 2002Brightside County Junior And Infant School, Brightside, Billericay, Essex. CM12 0LE
Received 11 May 2018Crumps Farm,Stortford Rd,Little Canfield,Great Dunmow,CM6 1SR
Received 19 Oct 2009Area of Open Space north of Church End Lane, Runwell, SS11 7DS
Received 18 Jun 2025Burnham Library, Station Road, Burnham-on-crouch, Essex, CM0 8HQ
Received 5 May 2026Ryedene CPS,Clover Way,Vange,Basildon,SS164SY
Received 29 Oct 2003Land to the North of Mucking Hall Lane, Barling Magna, SS3 0NH
Received 30 Dec 2014Wilson Marriage Centre.,Barrack Street,Colchester,CO1 2LR
Received 25 Sept 2007Biffa Waste Services Ltd, Cambridge Road, Ugley, Bishop's Stortford, CM226HT
Received 29 Dec 2011Land at Bellhouse Farm South
Received 21 Dec 2023Bradwell Quarry, Church Road, Bradwell, CM77 8EP, and land southest of Sheepcotes Farm
Received 10 Feb 2017Home Farm, Hall Road, Gaunts End, Elsenham, Essex, CM22 6DR
Received 20 Apr 2026Asheldham Quarry, Southminster Road, Asheldham, Essex, CM0 7DZ
Received 31 Mar 2015Land situated off Walnut Tree Way, Colchester, Essex
Received 24 Mar 2021Land at Wallasea Island, Rochford, SS4 2HD
Received 16 Apr 2015Oaktree Gardens, Burley Hill, Harlow, CM17 9RR
Received 18 Sept 2017Land North Of Generals Lane Roundabout, Generals Lane, Boreham. Chelmsford, Essex, CM3 3HJ.
Received 25 Jul 2025Southminster WRC, Goldsands Road, Southminster, Essex, CM0 7JW
Received 1 Dec 2015Blunts Farm
Received 28 Feb 1994Glenwood School,Rushbottom Lane,New Thundersley,Benfleet,SS7 4LW
Received 15 Feb 2006Cory Environmental, Mucking Hall Road, Barling Magna, Southend-on-sea, SS3 0NR
Received 28 Aug 2012Records 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