MONMOUTHSHIRE County Council has received a surprise windfall of £398,000 from the Welsh Assembly to spend on upgrading schools.

The council's share of £14million provided by the Assembly for maintenance was only notified to them on February 1 and the money has to be spent by the end of this financial year in April.

But council leader Councillor Peter Fox said even though it was short notice, extra money was always welcome.

The cabinet agreed to spend £123,000 on toilet refurbishment at a number of primary schools including Usk, a fence at Raglan Primary School - £8,000 and replacement windows at Usk Primary School at a cost of £68,000

Some £60,000 is also to be spent on Llanover Primary School, which closed last summer, carrying out maintenance work before the building is handed back to the owners, Llanover Estates.

WAG asked councils to consider the following priorities for spending the extra cash on the replacement and/or refurbishment of school toilets, capital repair and maintenance works as identified in asset management plans and any design/enabling works in relation to transitional projects.