Original sentence: In five years, 4,000 building licences were signed, more than half in the names of three pensioners who had no connection with construction at all.The construction boom led to the destruction of the city's green belt, and distinctive villas were replaced by apartment blocks
Edited sentence: In five years, 4,000 building licences were signed, more than half of them in the names of three pensioners who had no connection with construction at all.The construction boom led to the destruction of the city's green belt, and villas that gave it architectural grace, to make way for characterless apartment blocks