ONE of Southampton's top attractions is in for a cash boost to pay for vital repairs to the building.

Leisure bosses are due to ring-fence £331,000 to pay for the work at Solent Sky museum - providing the deal is agreed at a meeting of full council in January.

The museum tells the story of the history of aviation in the Solent including Southampton's association with the Spitfire fighter and the luxurious flying boats that flew to all corners of the British Empire before their demise at the end of the 1940s.

The RJ Mitchell Trust opened Solent Sky - formerly the Hall of Aviation - at its current site in Albert Road South in 1984.

However, museum trustees never signed a lease for the site that is owned by city leisure bosses due to structural defects in the building.

Around £100,000 was given to the council by the Ministry of Defence to pay for the Air Training Corps to occupy a section of the museum.

However, release of the cash was dependent on the lease being signed. Now, after 20 years, city leisure bosses have acquired around £231,000 interest on the original amount of money given by the MoD to the council.

When the lease is signed, the cash will be used to pay for repairs to internal gutters and downpipes as well as repairs to the museum's windows.