In the UK, Durham County Council (DCC) is the latest major duty holder to adopt a VALID approach to managing and assessing tree risk.

Here's DCC's Tree Management Policy.

DCC have integrated VALID's Government Tree Risk-Benefit Management Strategy model template into their policy.

All DCC's risk-benefit assessments are made under the protective umbrella of their Policy. Here's how they've zoned their occupancy, and go about their assessments in their Tree Inspection Procedure.

DCC's greatest tree risk asset is their policy and procedure.

After policy and procedure, DCC's most valuable risk asset isn't their 4 Validators (trained Arborists). It's the nearly 60 Basic Validators we've trained over the last week.

Basic Validators are trained to pick up on Obvious Tree Risk Features they can't help but notice as they go about their day to day work.

Basic Validators can also carry out Active Assessment at a Basic level, whenever they perform general 'inspection' procedures as part of their work.

If there's a red risk tree in County Durham, it's a Basic Validator who's most likely to spot it long before a Validator does.

*We're not keen on the word 'inspection' when it comes to tree risk. Inspection implies a level of detail that's seldom necessary if you're reasonable, proportionate, and reasonably practicable about managing the risk.

In DCC's case, the word 'inspection' is embedded in the description of many procedures carried out by Highways Officers, Rangers, and the like, so they've kept it.