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6,830 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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 at Rayne Quarry, Dunmow Road, Braintree, Essex, Rayne
Received 23 Sept 2020Land at Sandon Quarry, Southend Road, Sandon, Howe Green, CM2 7TE
Received 16 Aug 2021Henham & Ugley County Primary School,School Lane,Henham,Bishop's Stortford,CM22 6BP
Received 5 Apr 2004Land at Colchester Quarry, Warren lane, Stanway Colchester C03 0NN
Received 29 May 2019Elsenham Quarry,Hall Rd,Elsenham,Bishops Stortford,CM22 6DJ
Received 27 Dec 2007Eight Ash Green & Aldham County Primary School,Fiddlers Folly (off Wood Lane),Fordham Heath,Colchester,CO3 9UE
Received 5 Sept 2008Land at Greenacres, Packards Lane, Wormingford
Received 5 Sept 2020Market Field School, School Road, Elmstead, Colchester, CO7 7ET
Received 30 Dec 2014Home Farm County Primary School, Shelley Road, Colchester. CO3 4JL
Received 4 Oct 2017Morses Lane Industrial Estate,Brightlingsea,CO7 0SD
Received 12 Aug 2008Great Wakering Primary School,High Street,Great Wakering,Southend-on-sea,SS3 0EJ
Received 30 Oct 2008Notley Green County Primary School,Blickling Road,Great Notley,Braintree,CM7 7LJ
Received 11 Mar 2002Gosbecks C P School,Owen Ward Close,Shrub End,Colchester,CO2 9DG
Received 19 Dec 2004Beckers Green C P School,Beckers Green Road,Braintree,CM7 3PR
Received 29 Jan 2004Colchester Quarry (Stanway Hall),Warren Lane,Stanway,Colchester,CO3 0NN
Received 14 Mar 2013Roydon C P School,Harlow Road,Harlow,CM19 5HN
Received 18 Jan 2006Shenfield Library, Hutton Road, Shenfield, CM15 8NJ
Received 24 Jan 2023Chelmsford Adult Community Learning Centre, Beeches Close, Chelmsford, CM1 2SB
Received 19 Feb 2020Wivenhoe Quarry, Alresford Road, Wivenhoe, Essex, CO7 9JU
Received 23 Feb 2026Colbayns High School,Pathfields Road,Clacton on Sea,CO15 3JL
Received 14 Aug 2001Great Dunmow WwTW,Chelmsford Road,Dunmow
Received 11 Jul 2003Mildmay Infant and Nursery School,Robin Way,Chelmsford,CM2 8AU
Received 28 Jan 2010Wivenhoe Quarry, Alresford Road, Wivenhoe, Colchester, Essex, CO7 9JU
Received 12 Feb 2014Pitsea Landfill, Pitsea Hall Lane, Pitsea, Essex, SS16 4UH
Received 9 Jan 2023Records 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