Former Energy and Climate Change Secretary Amber Rudd has launched a campaign against proposals to install solar panels in a country park in her Hastings & Rye constituency, arguing such a move "would damage our much-valued local green space".

The proposals, put forward by the local Labour-controlled council, could potentially see two 1MW ground-mounted solar arrays installed in Hastings Country Park, as well as a third at Upper Wilting Farm.

Rudd, who was Energy and Climate Change Secretary between 2015 and 2016 and is now the Work and Pensions Secretary, has set up an online petition urging local residents to oppose the plans.

Hastings Borough Council's cabinet is due to decide on Monday whether to provide more than £80,000 in funding for a feasibility study, pre-planning consultations and developing a detailed business case for the solar project.

Initial estimates suggest the project would cost around £2.1m to construct, and once operational could generate between £165,000 and £430,000 income for the local authority each year, while also avoiding 1,400 tonnes of CO2 annually, according to a council report.

But in an open letter from Rudd alongside the petition the Minister argues the solar plans would "destroy" up to 10 acres of the Country Park, which is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The petition, first reported by the Hastings & St Leonard's Observer, had attracted 227 signatures by early Friday afternoon, almost halfway towards its target of 500.

Rudd also argues the council's income projections from the solar project are "wholly unreliable" and that the move "sets a dangerous precedent" for development in the country park.

"Solar energy has been a fantastic source of clean energy," Rudd states. "I welcome its use on roofs, brown field sites & areas of land such as near motorways. As Secretary of State for Energy I oversaw its continued growth. But solar expansion should however not be done at the expense of our natural environment."

The council argues its revenue predictions for the a project are "conservative" and "realistic", and that the proposed feasibility study would take into account potential ecological impacts and financial implications ahead of a full planning application being lodged.

In a statement council leader Peter Chowney said local authorities and national governments must do "everything they possibly can" to cut emissions and avoid "catastrophic consequences" of climate change. He also criticised government policies restricting onshore wind farms in England and cuts to the feed-in tariff subsidies for solar.

"If the studies we're commissioning reveal that the solar arrays have significant negative environmental consequences, particularly for the neighbouring Site of Special Scientific Interest, then we wouldn't go ahead with it," said the Labour councillor. "But in the end, if the only reason for opposing it is one of aesthetics, that would not seem to be a good enough reason to reject the proposal. The challenges we face from catastrophic consequences of climate change are far too great to reject proposals for sustainable energy generation solely because it spoils the view… The only responsible thing to do is to act now, and install sustainable energy generation wherever we can."

It is not the first time solar farm plans have encountered opposition over perceived impacts on the natural landscape. Last year, Blaenau Gwent county borough council criticised plans backed by the Welsh government for a 143-acre wind farm at Wauntysswg Farm near Tredegar, while conservationists in Kent have raised concerns about the Cleve Hill Solar Park project, which if built would be one of the biggest solar farms in the UK.