A sports club in Carmarthenshire is hoping to add padel tennis to its repertoire to prevent members having to travel to Swansea to play.

Llanelli Tennis and Squash Club has applied to Carmarthenshire County Council to build two padel courts to complement its six tennis courts and three squash courts.

Padel is played in a small court with walls and combines elements of tennis and squash. Some courts have canopy-style roofs, some don’t. The sport is becoming increasingly popular.

Club chairman Mark Westcott said: “We’ve got a number of members who go to Swansea to play padel. It makes sense to have them on site.”

He said non-members would also be able to book them day by day as they can the tennis and squash courts.

The club hopes to build them on a derelict patch of land which had four hard tennis courts several years ago. The padel courts would have steel-framed enclosures with glass rebound walls and mesh panels, but no roof.

Low-level floodlighting is proposed along with a 3.5m acoustic fence around the courts to dampen noise. Mr Westcott said the nearest houses were around 40m away, and that four of the club’s tennis courts were floodlit.

The club, off Denham Avenue, has just over 200 adult and junior members and leases the land from Llanelli Athletic Association.

A design and access statement submitted on the club’s behalf said the padel court plan had backing from the athletic association and local politicians, and that local schools used the club’s facilities.

“The introduction of padel courts will safeguard and support the growth of the club’s membership, helping to future-proof the facilities under the club’s new 99-year lease,” it said.

Separate plans for three padel courts with canopy-style roofs at Machynys Peninsula Golf and Country Club in Llanelli were turned down by the county council last August.

The club has recently re-submitted an application for three courts and hopes that reorientating them further away from the nearest residents, commissioning a noise impact assessment, and addressing flood risk and drainage will overcome the previous reasons for refusal.