The Rural Summit, which was hosted in the East Gippsland Shire, started on Wednesday and ends today.  

The summit focused on the liveability offering of rural and regional areas of Victoria across the three-days.

It aimed to equip council staff, leaders and residents of rural communities with the skills, information and capacity to respond positively to ever-changing environments.

The summit was a chance for rural councils to discuss common issues that are impacting rural people and look at solutions.

Northern Grampians Shire Council mayor Tony Driscoll said the summit was an opportunity to hear from high-profile speakers and engage with other councils.

He said the discussions he hoped to have will address the challenges and issues faced by rural councils. 

Mr Driscoll said a main concern in the Northern Grampians shire was maintaining its population. He said this issue appeared to be a common trend experienced throughout rural Victoria. 

Mr Driscoll added connectivity in rural areas was another challenge, which interconnects to his population concerns. 

“We are trying to populate most of our councils, yet in Melbourne and larger centres they are going really well while we struggle to maintain ours,” he said. “The summit is a broad ranging discussion on how councils can continually move forward. We are able to discuss and share ideas from council-to-council.” 

Mr Driscoll said he was certain that the shire will take away ideas, which council could implement in its practices for the community’s benefit. 

“The networking opportunities with councils and speakers is always a great benefit because we can share and use each others ideas to improve the way we operate,” he said. 

The summit had speakers from government, industry, tourism and business sectors, as well as, people who specialise in forecasting the future of rural areas.