The affected area runs about 20 metres down the winding roadway from the junction with Marshall Avenue, roughly the length of the Boyes store frontage.

John Lister, East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s head of Bridlington regeneration, said it was not known exactly why the surface had started to move.

He said: “The quickest way of finding out, and causing the least disruption, is to lift the blocks and lay black asphalt in their place, which to minimise disruption we would probably leave.

“It is disappointing.

“It seems there has been a loss of sand between some of the blocks, causing them to move. We do not think there is any underlying failure.

“The surface is fine elsewhere, including the lay-bys, and the temporary asphalt will be laid just down the centre of the road.

“It is difficult to say if it is a design fault, the way they have been laid, or is due to the severe winter weather which has affected roads elsewhere.

“If water gets beneath the blocks and freezes, it would push them up.

“The only way to find out for sure is to lift them.”

The intention would be to complete the work in one day, or at the most over a weekend, and it would be carried out as soon as possible.

Mr Lister said the cost “would not be huge”.

“There is absolutely nothing wrong with this type of construction which has been widely used elsewhere.

“We have had some minor problems of this type before and when blocks have been lifted and relayed we have not found any underlying structural failures.

“However, it is something we might be taking up with the manufacturer of the blocks,” he said.

Another possible cause could be usage.

“The road was designed to reduce speed down Chapel Street by using a single track. When this happens it can triple axle loadings but we have still not discovered any structural failure,” said Mr Lister.

Just over a year ago the first signs that something might not be quite right about the surface of Chapel Street emerged.

In January 2009 it was clear some of the block sets were coming unstuck in the showcase development, the first stage in Bridlington town centre’s regeneration plans.

The new-look street layout, completed less than three years ago at a cost of around half a million pounds, was designed to set the standard for future street improvements and last for at least a generation.

Again, the pavements and laybys were not affected, just patches in the winding carriageway. Taking the affected blocks up and relaying them was done over two weekends and at one point involved a full street closure.