Warning: Oliver

London's traffic problems threaten the capital's world city status, the Lord Mayor of the City of London has warned.

In an interview with ePolitix.com, alderman Michael Oliver, described the three-mile-an-hour average speed of the capital's cars as a serious problem to the city's future.

"I think the traffic problems are a threat. I really do. If you can't get from A to B there is a problem," he said.

"We have a lot of delegations coming into the City and you can't move them around easily. We have not had this problem in the past."

The Lord Mayor said Crossrail, the proposal for two new train lines across the capital, would be vital to improve London's public transport system.

"The fact is the system is creaking and we need really to make it possible for people to get into London easily. If we're going to have the roads gridlocked, we need to have a jolly effective public transport system."

"At the moment, it's hard work just getting to work - it's stressful - and people aren't going to be as efficient. You've got to try and make it so people want to come here, want to do business here, creating employment for UK plc," Oliver said.

On London's crippling housing shortage, he called for new homes to be built on brownfield land.

"I think that in retrospect the decision to do away with nurses' homes near hospitals was a big mistake," he said.

"If your transport system isn't good, and if you're concerned about travelling late at night, which is a particular problem for workers doing shift work at difficult hours, housing is needed close to people's places of work."