Dickinson Dees lawyer scores hat-trick of deals

Oct 28 2009 by Iain Laing, The Journal

A TOP planning lawyer at leading law firm, Dickinson Dees has recently advised three London Boroughs on development projects worth in excess of £7.25bn.

Jocelyn Denton who heads up the delivery of planning legal services at the Newcastle-based firm’s Yorkshire office, has been working on the prestigious hat-trick of deals for the London Borough of Newham, the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and the London Borough of Lewisham.

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 Games.

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 in the order of £120m, plus affordable housing.

John Fannon, borough planning officer at the London Borough of Newham, said: “The expert guidance we received from Dickinson Dees in respect of the Stratford Rail Lands has been invaluable to us in securing regeneration benefits for our local communities”

Denton 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.

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

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

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

She 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.”