The £66,000 transformation of a long-standing north Norfolk eyesore has begun breaking up after only a few weeks.

North Walsham town councillors are so concerned about the state of the former 4a Market Street they are now asking whether the area should be cordoned off.

North Norfolk District Council (NNDC) member Eric Seward last night showed his town council colleagues a shard of the York Stone flags which now pave the prominent town centre site.

The NNDC project was completed in April after more than a decade of complaints about a decaying shop on the site which eventually had to be demolished by its owner for safety reasons.

But Mr Seward said the recently-laid stone had already begun fragmenting.

'We were told it was going to be a quality job,' he said.

'It's leaving a mess, none of it is being cleared up, and it's leaving an uneven surface.

'I don't regard this in any way as satisfactory – it's just not good enough,' he added.

Town councillor Richard Sims said some of the flakes coming off the surface were large and sharp. He asked: 'Should it not be cordoned off for safety?'.

Mr Seward will seek answers from district council officers.

The district council stepped in to landscape the site after its out-of-county former owner failed to improve the eyesore.

As well as the York Stone, it features two trees and three street lamps and the removal of the shop has created a much-admired vista of North Walsham's ancient grade one-listed parish church.