A computer-generated image of the Paramount entertainment complex, including a water park, bottom left

by Alan Watkins and business editor Trevor Sturgess

Hollywood film giant Paramount is to create 27,000 jobs with one of the world's biggest theme parks in north Kent.

The massive £2billion project is set to transform the Swanscombe peninsula, between Gravesend and Dartford, into an international tourist destination.

The entertainment complex will feature Europe's largest indoor water park, theatres, live music venues, attractions, cinemas, restaurants, event space and hotels.

It could take Paramount 18 months to get planning permission for the large-scale project, with the theme park due to open in 2018.

Derelict land next to the Ebbsfleet International station has been chosen for the huge project, on the same scale "as Disney".