GP surgeries, schools and other public buildings could be used in a bid to boost internet speeds in North Wales.

The plans were revealed at a meeting in which councillors heard broadband infrastructure in the region is currently lagging behind.

The area's six local authorities could also look to own and manage their own ducting to host fibre cables as part of a £56m funding bid.

The proposals were outlined as members of Wrexham Council's employment, business and investment scrutiny committee received a report on the North Wales Digital Connectivity Strategy.

It forms part of the North Wales Growth Bid, which could be worth up to £1.3bn growth deal and create up to 5,000 permanent jobs if it gains the UK government's backing in the Autumn Statement.

Council leader Mark Pritchard said improving connectivity was the 'number one priority' for all of the councils involved.

He said: "The North Wales Digital Connectivity Strategy addresses the common issues which impact negatively on current broadband and mobile connectivity within the region.

"It also identifies the key interventions that will help to deliver significant improvements in digital connectivity across the whole of North Wales.

"I think we should reach for the stars and want the very best. For too long Wrexham and North Wales hasn't really been aspirational enough.

"I'm hoping for the Conservative government in Westminster and the Labour government in Cardiff to support this bid.

"Our ambition is for local authorities to run their own ducting and infrastructure."

The report shows that demand for high speed broadband and mobile connectivity in North Wales has kept pace with supply.

However, it adds that infrastructure in the region has historically lagged behind the rest of the UK in terms of coverage and capacity.

It also highlights a 'digital divide' of hundreds of megabits per second (mbps) between North Wales and other parts of the UK since the emergence of fibreoptic broadband.

For example, less than five per cent of premises in Denbighshire have access to ultrafast broadband (>100Mbps) compared to just under 50 per cent in north west England.

It came as some councillors in rural areas of Wrexham claimed they only had access to speeds of just over one mbps.

Head of housing and economy Steve Bayley said fibre broadband was available in the county, but that 4,500 businesses currently have no access to superfast broadband (30mbps) with no commercial plans to address the issue in the next three years.

He said: "My first piece of advice to members is that you need to put your hand in your pocket. Your broadband is slow, but you could get full fibre if you wanted to.

"The biggest turn off for companies is the number of complaints from planning and highways authorities about the level of disruption when carrying out installations.

"Community fibre is a key part of the response to rural issues. We could consider giving all of our social housing stock broadband connectivity.

"We also want to see if we can do something around using GP practices to improve fibre access.

"In terms of public owned buildings we've got around 400 premises identified that are currently copper enabled that we want to move to fibre and there are 43 in Wrexham which would benefit."

The growth vision identifies a number of key sites in the county, including both Wrexham Technology Park and Wrexham Industrial Estate, which is one of the largest industrial estates in Europe.

Other sites include the Wrexham business quarter, industrial estates in Llay, Whitegate, Five Crosses, Rhosddu and the Vauxhall Industrial Estate.