Wrexham's Glyndŵr University is to invest £60 million overhauling its campuses and accommodation.

To help finance the ambitious plans, which were unveiled this morning, the institution is hoping to sell off land it owns around the town, which could then be used to build housing.

The university is looking to submit six planning applications to Wrexham Council next month.

These proposals would see the main campus totally transformed with new entrances, state-of-the-art facilities for students and an extension to the Wrexham Village student accommodation next to the Racecourse Ground.

Three of the applications concern development at the Plas Coch site. The others relate to the arts school also in the town centre on Regent Street, unused land near the town centre at Gatewen Road, and more controversially land at Dean Road.

Professor Maria Hinfelaar, Vice-Chancellor of Wrexham Glyndwr University said: "The success of these planning applications is critical to the future of the university.

“We have worked closely with Wrexham County Borough Council as well as architects, surveyors, highways and environmental teams to develop these proposals.

"Our ambition is to be the learning gateway into Wrexham and to contribute more to our local community. To achieve this, we need to do more with the footprint that we have and future-proof our campuses.

“We have already seen the fantastic impact of our new collaborative learning space ‘The Study’ and our refurbished catering facilities, opened earlier this year. We have also launched our partnership with FA Wales which will transform our Colliers Park site. There is much more to come.

“Students are at the centre of our strategy and we will enhance the student experience by providing an infrastructure that supports learning, with stimulating state-of-the-art facilities and the latest in building designs and technology.

“Our plans include a new engineering building that will support local business and gives our students access to modern, well-equipped workshops to prepare them for industry, new high quality student accommodation to attract a greater number of students to live and study in Wrexham and the redevelopment of Regent Street to further enhance its importance as an Art school of national standing whilst retaining a heritage building at the entrance to the town centre.”

The planning applications can be viewed in full at www.glyndwr.ac.uk throughout the 28 day consultation period and summaries of each application are available to view Monday to Friday between 10am and 4pm at Wrexham Glyndwr University.