During his time as the chairman of the Commission for New Towns (1982–1995) Shields oversaw the doubling in the number of new towns under the control of the commission, 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 Quangos. 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 Transport (1986–1993), six months doing so as interim Chairman (1988–89) after the Fennell report into the King's Cross fire, and afterwards as deputy chairman.