With reference to the controversy about Sliema town houses, please allow me to make public my views as an owner of such a house in Sliema.

I hate the idea of seeing, one day, my family home being pulled down. Besides, I am for conservation, as long as this is justified and reasonable. Having said that, I think that my husband and I should have the liberty of doing as we wish and need with our property, as others did. There are many reasons for having this opinion, some of which are indicated hereunder.

• We invested a lot of our resources in this property thinking, when we were much younger, that we were making a sound investment;

• Sliema was already undergoing a change and with the flow of high-rise buildings on Tower Road and the side streets surrounding us, we were literally "buried". No longer can I keep a flowering plant in my back yard as all direct sunlight has been excluded. The photo on the back page of The Times of July 25 gives some idea of how back yards have been engulfed by high-rise buildings. Our situation is even worse;

• We are now growing older and the house is becoming too large and unpractical for us. I would have thought that the day would come when we could turn our property into flats, not only for our well being, but also to be able to offer a flat each to our two daughters. From the remaining flats we could have had some income in our old age from our "sound" investment in our younger age.

Do Mepa and Astrid Vella of FAA know how much it costs us to maintain these old town houses? A handyman at home would have work all year round. Will we be able to continue keeping them in an adequate state later on in life?

Do Mepa and Ms Vella realise how much the value of these houses has gone down as they cannot be developed like the majority of townhouses in Sliema have been?

Why should we be discriminated against? Isn't it some joke that after the demolition of the best houses and the majority of town houses in Sliema, now Mepa and FAA want to preserve the remaining few? It is a farce. Just look at Windsor Terrace, starting from Gelateria towards Dingli Street, and other streets for that matter, and you will see what a zigzag in heights of buildings there is. Is this a harmonious and pleasant sight? Obviously not! Sliema is no Unesco World Heritage Site and can never be.

If Mepa and FAA want to keep the few town houses that are left in Sliema as "heritage", well I think that the owners should, in some way, be compensated.

After all the damage done to Sliema, the decision taken some years back of maintaining the original façade of an old town house and allowing conversion of the rest was, in my opinion, the best decision.

Now, to add insult to injury, after having had light and sunshine practically eliminated from our houses and after suffering all the consequences that come with construction around you, we are being told that we have to bear the price of "conservation".