Matt is relishing the challenge of a complicated job

Matt Epps has his hands full at the moment.

Matt is the Projects, Programmes and Funding Team Leader in Warwickshire County Council's economic development team.

Working under Economy and Skills Group Manager Dave Ayton-­Hill, his role, and that of his team, is to identify and pursue potential sources of funding to support the growth of the Warwickshire economy and, in particular, the county council’s own plans.

Matt represents the council on the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership officer group which is leading the refresh of the Coventry and Warwickshire Strategic Economic Plan. CWLEP is also currently preparing a bid to Government for Growth Deal funding - £1.8bn of Government funding will be allocated to LEPs later this year.

Warwickshire County Council, for its part, has developed and submitted business cases for ten schemes worth £400m which are requesting £59m from the Growth Deal. These include eight transport schemes, additional resources for the roll-out of superfast broadband and the development of Nuneaton town centre.

The council has also recently made Transport, Regeneration and Flood Risk applications to the CWLEP’s Growing Places Fund. These bids are asking for £3.67m while  the Economy and Skills Group at Barrack Street are also looking at developing alternative funding mechanisms for the future when Government grants dry up.

His is a busy, complex role at the best of times. And it has become rather more complex in light of last month’s referendum vote to take the UK out of the EU.

Local government, like the nation as a whole, can only wait to see how the consequences of that momentous vote evolve. However events unfold, though, Matt's expertise will be of high value to the council.

In such uncertain times, never has it been more important for a business, a local authority or, indeed, a country to have relevant experience and knowledge on the case. And that's exactly what Yorkshire-born Matt brings to the Economic Development team in Barrack Street.

Having showed an immediate aptitude for languages at school, he was keen to get out there as soon as possible and experience the cultures in Europe. A'levels over, he took a year out and headed to Germany to teach English in Sindelfingen, near Stuttgart.

He enjoyed it very much and returned to Germany later, when he was studying German Studies along with Politics and International Relations at the University of Lancaster, when he taught in Bautzen near the Poland/Czech border.

"That was a fascinating time, a few years after the reunification of Germany," said Matt. "Going there at such a historic time, I did wonder what it would be like but I was warmly welcomed.

"It was great to immerse myself in the culture of the place which was so different to my previous time in Germany. Sindelfingen is quite an affluent place but Bautzen was a lot less so and in a really interesting location in the east."

Back in England again, Matt stayed on at university to take a Masters in European Institutions and Policy-making which included a placement at the EU in Brussels working in the North-west Regional Office for Lancashire County Council. Two years followed at Buckinghamshire County Council as assistant European officer before, in July 2003, Matt arrived in a similar role at Warwickshire County Council.

"It was all about looking at how to generate funding from Europe for large infrastructure projects like Eliot Park Innovation Centre in Nuneaton, as well as business support and employment & training programmes," he said. "The European Officer role ceased some years ago but my job now is try to sniff out potential funding sources and find out in advance when they might be coming along so we can be ahead of the game.”

For some years the EU has been a valuable funding-stream for economic development and regeneration in Warwickshire and for the 2014-2020 period, Coventry and Warwickshire has an allocation of £119m. That's not all going to cease overnight following the referendum vote, but plans will clearly have to be revisited. 

"We are involved in the development or delivery of over £50 million of projects and programmes that are part-funded by the EU” Matt said. "That includes support for businesses, help for people looking to start a business, upgrading broadband access, helping young people not in education or training and helping the long-term unemployed back into work. Alternative funding may now need to be found for the later years of some of these projects.

"This is an unprecedented situation, but for us it's as much as possible a case of business as usual. It is a big job and a complicated one with the project development and technical business-case preparation alongside the politics of it all. But I like the complications."

That's just as well. For anybody who likes complications, this is a pretty interesting time...