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6,830 approved · 214 refused · 438 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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 off Thaxted Road,Veermans Lodge,Thaxted Road,Saffron Walden,CB10 2UR
Received 15 Jul 2004St Johns CE Primary School,High Road,Buckhurst Hill,IG9 5RX
Received 5 Apr 2001The Colne Community School, Church Road, Brightlingsea, CO7 0QL
Received 23 Jul 2021Nazeing Primary School, Hyde Mead, Nazeing, Waltham Abbey, EN9 2HS
Received 8 Jul 2021Ongar Clay Pit Landfill,Ongar Landfill Site,Mill Lane,Ongar,CM5 9RG
Received 6 May 1997Hill Farm, RESERVOIR,Crown Lane,Tendring,Clacton-on-Sea,CO16 0BJ
Received 11 Jan 2002St. Georges Infant School, Barrington Road, Colchester, CO2 7RW
Received 20 Feb 2012Hogarth Seax Training Centre, Riseway, Ingrave Road, Brentwood,Hogarth County Primary School,Riseway,Ingrave Road,Brentwood,CM15 8BG
Received 16 Mar 2001Edith Borthwick School,Fennes Rd,Bocking,Braintree,CM7 5LA
Received 6 Nov 1998Kingswode Hoe School, Kingswode Hoe School, Sussex Road, Colchester, CO3 3QJ
Received 23 Jun 2017Debden Park High School,St Johns CE Primary School,High Road,Buckhurst Hill,IG9 5RX
Received 9 Mar 2000Woodlands School,Takeley End,Kingswood,Basildon,SS165BA
Received 31 Jan 2012Stanway Hall Quarry (Concrete Plant), Warren Lane, Colchester
Received 21 May 2014Felmore Primary School,Davenants,Pitsea,Basildon,SS131QZ
Received 30 Apr 2008Norman Primary School,Remercie Road,Mistley,Manningtree,CO11 1LS
Received 1 Aug 2008Crown Quarry, Old ipswich Road, Ardleigh, Colchester, CO7 7QR
Received 29 Nov 2016Harlow Central Library, Cross Street, Harlow, CM20 1HA
Received 5 May 2021Biogen Halstead AD Facility, Bluebridge Industrial Estate, Halstead, Essex, CO9 2SZ
Received 6 Jan 2021land at Russell Green, Boreham Road, Boreham, Chelmsford, Essex, CM3 3BA
Received 4 Mar 2013The Henry Moore Primary School,Kiln Lane,Church Langley,Harlow,CM17 9LW
Received 9 Sept 2004Colchester Quarry, Warren Lane, Stanway, Essex, CO3 0NN
Received 30 Mar 2022Clavering Primary School, Stortford Road, Clavering, CB11 4PE
Received 26 Apr 2018Sandon Quarry,Southend Road,Chelmsford,CM2 7TE
Received 13 Dec 2002Springfield Primary School, Forsythia Close, Chelmsford, CM1 6XW
Received 29 Dec 2011Records 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 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