SHELL-shocked workers at a Hampshire military base have accused their employers of keeping them in the dark about plans to axe the complex.

The 200 civilians employed at RAF Hythe only found out about the threat to their jobs when they were contacted by the Daily Echo.

Workers at the base in Shore Road, Hythe, were unaware of the closure plan when they went home on Friday.

Shortly afterwards New Forest East MP Dr Julian Lewis said he had been told that the site was due to shut later this year.

Phil Gittings, a supervisor at RAF Hythe, said: "The first I knew about it was at 5pm when the Daily Echo asked me for a comment on the closure. My first reaction was what closure?"

Despite its name RAF Hythe is a shipyard operated by the US Army, which uses the site to service and repair military boats.

Mr Gittings, 44, added: "There's a lot of anger at the base. When we went home on Friday someone must have known that proposals to close the site were about to be made public but the workforce wasn't informed. We should have been told before we went home. "The Americans obviously knew that something was about to be released but we were kept in the dark, which I think is appalling."

Richard Holmquest, chairman of the works council at RAF Hythe, said he also found out through the local media.

He added: "I was very shocked and disappointed to hear about the closure in that way. It shows the disrespect the Americans have for the workforce. So much for the special relationship that's supposed to exist between Britain and America."

Some of the employees have worked at the base for 30 years.

Mr Gittings said it was one of the area's largest employees and warned that the loss of 200 jobs would have a major impact on the local economy.

"Hythe businesses are going to suffer - as are all the local contractors employed by the base," he said.

"I only hope the Ministry of Defence realises the importance of RAF Hythe and takes it on as a going concern. Facilities at the shipyard are second to none."

Hythe councillor Maureen Robinson plans to raise the issue at tonight's meeting of the district council.

Cllr Robinson, leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition group, said: "The council needs to make urgent contact with the MoD and find out what its intentions are for the base.

"We need to be pro-active and not let it become a derelict site, which means we need to start work straight away."

The United States Embassy in London has told the MoD that the US Army intends to pull out of RAF Hythe on September 30.

The embassy was closed over the weekend and no one was available for comment.