Neil Shields

'''Sir Neil Stanley Shields''' {{Postnom|country=GBR|OBE|MC}} (7 September 1919 – 12 September 2002) was a [[British people|British]] [[politician]] and businessman.

Shields was born in [[London]] and served as a major in the [[Royal Artillery]] in [[World War II]], during which time he was awarded the [[Military Cross]]. In 1949 he unsuccessfully stood as the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] parliamentary candidate for [[St Pancras North (UK Parliament constituency)|St Pancras North]]. Shields served on [[Hampstead Borough Council]] between 1947 and 1965, serving as deputy leader, and as chairman of the finance and works committees.

Shields later became an adviser in merger broking, especially in the role of director of [[Chesham Amalgamations|Chesham Amalgamations and Investments]] (1964–1984).<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.cheshamamalgamations.com/pdffiles/Archives/The%20Story%20of%20Chesham%20Amalgamations.pdf | title = The Story of Chesham Amalgamations | accessdate = 20 June 2007 | archive-date = 7 February 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120207093634/http://www.cheshamamalgamations.com/pdffiles/Archives/The%20Story%20of%20Chesham%20Amalgamations.pdf | url-status = dead }}</ref> He was Chairman of the London area of the [[National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations]] (1961–1963), and was thrice a member of the Conservative Party National Executive.

He was knighted in 1964 for political and public services in London and Hampstead.

During his time as the chairman of the [[Commission for New Towns]] (1982–1995) Shields oversaw the doubling of the number of new towns under the commission's control, as all the independent New Town Development Corporations were wound up by 1992, as part of the Conservative Government's proposals under [[Margaret Thatcher]] to reduce the number of [[Quango]]s. The commission, under his chairmanship, was converted from a holding body to a disposal agency, selling off billions of pounds of assets. At the same time Shields also served on the board of [[London Regional Transport|London Transport]] (1986–1993), serving six months as interim Chairman (1988–89) after the Fennell report into the [[King's Cross fire]], and afterwards as deputy chairman.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1407480/Sir-Neil-Shields.html | title = Sir Neil Shields - Telegraph | work = [[The Daily Telegraph]] | date = 17 September 2002 | accessdate = 4 February 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article819885.ece | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110523230402/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article819885.ece | url-status = dead | archive-date = 23 May 2011 | title = Sir Neil Shields obituary - Times Online | work = [[The Times|The Times (London)]] | date = 1 November 2002 | accessdate = 26 August 2007}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shields, Neil}} [[Category:1919 births]] [[Category:2002 deaths]] [[Category:Businesspeople from London]] [[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]] [[Category:Conservative Party (UK) councillors]] [[Category:Councillors in Greater London]] [[Category:Politicians from London]] [[Category:People associated with transport in London]] [[Category:Recipients of the Military Cross]] [[Category:Royal Artillery officers]] [[Category:20th-century English businesspeople]] [[Category:Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire]]