Hythe ranges are under severe threat of flooding – but army exercises must continue there.

Friends of the Earth has uncovered the details through a Freedom of Information request showing that the military is considering abandoning flood-prone bases.

This has been the wettest winter since 1910 with repeated floods and storms.

A Ministry of Defence report says that Hythe and nearby Lydd, used for training troops for Afghanistan, are “demonstrably under threat from the risk of flooding.”

But it says that moving elsewhere could not be done because it would be impossible to find another site of the same size in this country.

The document says that the ranges are in the “national interest” but that “it must be acknowledged that the inevitable effects of sea level rise mean that the sea is encroaching” and an equivalent training ground of similar size could not be found elsewhere in the UK.

The report suggests instead abandoning places such as RAF Kinloss in Scotland and even prominent bases such as the RAF’s biggest station, Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire.

In all, nine out of 13 of the country’s most important military bases could face “direct impact” from floods by 2020.

Friends of the Earth climate and energy campaigner Guy Shrubsole said in a blog: “If even the Ministry of Defence is feeling under pressure from increasing flooding and rising seas then it is high time the government redoubles its efforts to protect the whole country from the climate change.”

An MoD spokesman said; “This report was published in 2007 and it has been updated ... on more current research.

“We have worked closely with the Environment Agency, Defra and the UK Climate Impacts Programme to introduce robust processes to ensure that the effects of climate change, including flooding, are well planned or prepared for across all our defence sites.

“We can now be clear the recent severe weather has had no major effect on the Defence estate.”