The City of London Corporation has said it intends to take legal action against the Occupy London protesters camped outside St Paul's Cathedral.

According to the committee it made the decision after discussions with the protesters "got nowhere".

Stuart Fraser, policy chairman of the City of London Corporation, said he had reports of "worrying" activities at the camp.

‘We paused legal action for two weeks for talks with those in the camp on how to shrink the extent of the tents and to set a departure date – but got nowhere," he said.

"So, sadly, now they have rejected a reasonable offer to let them stay until the New Year, it’s got to be the courts. We’d still like to sort this without court action but from now on we will have to have any talks in parallel with court action – not instead.

"We are getting reports about vulnerable people, cases of late-night drinking and other worrying trends, so it’s time to act. It will clearly take time but we are determined to see this through.

"Lawful protesters who stand or walk are a regular part of London. But tents, equipment and now, increasingly, quite a lot of mess, is not what a highway is for and others are losing out."

A notice to tent users is likely to follow on Wednesday.

Protesters at the camp had won a reprieve from eviction earlier this month after both the Cathedral and the City of London Corporation decided not to move against them.

The development comes as New York police cleared the Occupy Wall St camp from Zuccotti Park after the owner of the site said it had become unsanitary and dangerous.