Stradey Park has been home to rugby in Llanelli since 1879

The regional rugby club want to move to a new 15,000-capacity stadium on the other side of the town but need to redevelop Stradey Park to raise money.

Some residents have raised concerns about extra traffic and potential flooding if new houses are built.

Carmarthenshire Council has backed the scheme but AMs will have the final say.

New facilities

Planning committee members visited the site on Thursday, where they were met by a noisy demonstration of residents opposed to the scheme.

The assembly government said the application "raised planning issues".

Llanelli Scarlets - first as a club and now as a regional side - have played at Stradey since 1879.

The club said a new �45m development at Pemberton is needed to provide the Scarlets and their fans with much-needed modern facilities.

There have been local protests against the Stradey plans

To help pay for the project, the Scarlets want to sell Stradey for housing.

But some local residents have raised concerns over extra traffic and had appealed to the assembly government to call in the proposals.

An assembly government spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday that it had notified Carmarthenshire council that planning minister Carwyn Jones had called in the plans for the new homes at Stradey Park and adjoining land, Maes y Coed.

"It raised planning issues that were of more than local importance particularly in relation to potential flooding.

'New stadium'

"A number of call-in requests have been received including a number from local residents.

"We cannot at this stage give any indication of the timing of the decision on this case or of the process for public examination of the issues."

The statement concluded: "The underlying objective of this development proposal is to enable the relocation of Llanelli RFC to a new stadium in Llanelli to replace Stradey Park.

"The stadium has been the subject of a separate planning application."

Scarlets chief executive Stuart Gallagher said a detailed analysis of the redevelopment had concluded it posed "no risk".