A PLANNING lawyer at law firm Dickinson Dees has advised three London boroughs on development projects worth more than £7.25bn.

Jocelyn Denton, who heads the delivery of planning legal services at the firm’s York office, has been working on the major hat-trick of deals for the London boroughs of Newham, Tower Hamlets and Lewisham.

The deals are a coup for Newcastle-based Dickinson Dees, which also has an office in London alongside the one in York where Ms Denton is based.

Ms Denton said: “It has been a privilege to work on these high-value complex schemes which have such huge significance to the local authorities and the communities they serve.

“It has been challenging but rewarding work and demonstrates the quality of the legal work that is being undertaken in the Yorkshire region at present.”

Ms Denton is acting for the London borough of Newham on the £4bn Stratford City project in East London, which involves the regeneration of 180 acres of land around the new International Passenger Station at Stratford.

A major new metropolitan centre, including about 5,000 new homes will be built as a result of the scheme and part of the site is to form the Athlete’s Village for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Ms Denton has acted on the project since 2003 advising on all aspects of the planning applications for the scheme and being involved in the negotiation of complex planning agreements delivering benefits worth up to £120m, plus affordable housing.

The planning specialist has also recently acted for the London borough of Tower Hamlets on the Wood Wharf project, a £3bn mixed-use redevelopment scheme on the Isle of Dogs, next to Canary Wharf.

The scheme will provide offices, a hotel, 1,668 residential units, shops, restaurants, cafes and bars, leisure and community facilities and also includes the creation of a canal with bridge links.

In addition to advising on all aspects of the planning application for the scheme, Ms Denton advised on the negotiation and completion of a planning agreement to secure benefits valued at £153m.

The hat-trick of deals is completed by the Lewisham Gateway project where Ms Denton acted for the London borough of Lewisham on a £250m project to deliver a mixed-use scheme for the town centre with new homes, leisure and community facilities and retail, office and hotel uses, in addition to open space and infrastructure works.