THE “police precept” that slaps up to £135 on council tax bills will be axed amid fury over its soaring cost, under government plans.

The Home Office has drawn up plans for a new “community safety levy” that can only be spent on neighbourhood policing – bringing down its cost.

Furthermore, residents will be able to vote off directly-elected members of the new police boards that will charge the levy if they think bills are too high. The police boards will have to prove every penny of their budgets is needed for better neigh-bourhood policing.

The plans to open up the precept to proper public scrutiny follow mounting anger that existing police authorities have hiked bills with no explanation.

When Labour came to power in 1997, Merseyside council taxpayers in Band D homes paid an annual precept of just £66.87. This year, they are paying £133.91 – a rise of almost exactly 100%.

In Cheshire, Band D residents have watched their bills soar by 165% – from £51.16 to £135.75 – but even that is below the national average rise of 187%, to £156.91.

No explanation of how money will be spent appears on council tax bills. The only restriction on budgets is the possible threat of government “capping”.

Residents have little opportunity to protest if the money is squandered, because police authorities are not directly elected. Their members are “co-opted” from councils and other public bodies.

Now a draft of the Polic-ing and Crime Reduction Bill, leaked to a national newspaper, has put for-ward the new, scaled-back, “community safety levy”.

The Home Office de-clined to comment, but the Conservatives immediate-ly warned the plans did not go far enough.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: “The council taxpayer has been fleeced by the precept.

“Conservatives would ensure directly elected police commissioners control the precept and any increase beyond a cer-tain level would be subject to a local referendum.”

The growth in the pre-cept is also illustrated by the big increase in the proportion of each force’s budget which it funds.

In Merseyside, the share rose from 11.6% in 1997-8 to 17.6% in 2007-08 and, in Cheshire, from 16.9% to 27%, in the same period.