Council bosses have admitted that the closure of a main street out of Norwich is partly because a £3.6m road needs fixing - four years after it opened.

St Augustines Street closed last week, with Norwich City Council installing a new zebra crossing in the street - but it has also emerged that part of the reason is because the road itself needs repairing.

The county council, which spent £3.6m on the St Augustines Gyratory scheme four years ago, said some blockwork used on the road had come loose.

Up until now, the council said, the problem areas had been patched up with asphalt, but now they have taken the opportunity to make permanent repairs.

A council spokesman said: 'The primary purpose of the work is to install a zebra crossing on St Augustines Street, just south of Sussex Street - as requested by local residents.

'At the same time repairs are being carried out where the block paving on speed tables had worked loose over time under the weight of traffic.

'The current work has shown that there are no obvious underlying problems, so it's not subsidence. Rather than risk the same thing happening again, the blocks are being replaced with asphalt-based material that should be more resilient.'

The £75,000 work, made up of £40,000 for the speed table work and £35,000 for the crossing, is due to be finished by Sunday.

The St Augustines gyratory scheme, which was completed in January 2011, saw a number of streets made one-way in an attempt to ease congestion and cut pollution in roads in the area.

People living nearby recently welcomed the move to install a new zebra crossing, saying there had long been calls for one.

• Do you have a story about a local council? Call reporter Dan Grimmer on 01603 772375 or email dan.grimmer@archant.co.uk