Public sector reform: The conference unanimously endorsed a motion claiming that the plan to cut the number of councils from 26 to seven would undermine local democracy.
It "welcomed improvements that will streamline decision-making and reduce bureaucracy within the health sector but demands the government reconsiders its local government proposals and works alongside party representatives to a more realistic alternative".
Proposing the motion, Cllr Mervyn Storey said his party was pressing for "real and serious savings in public administration in Northern Ireland".
"In fact, while others wasted their time in trying to house train Sinn Féin/IRA in 2003 it was this party that set about producing real and serious proposals to address the financial waste and our over-governance."
Peter Weir, a North Down Assembly member, said local government was a pawn in a much bigger government strategy.
He ridiculed the proposed boundaries for the new, larger local council areas. They were so large that the various areas within them had little in common.
He denounced the "bizarre" banana-shaped council which proposes to include towns as diverse as Lisburn and Carrickfergus. Such convoluted measures could never save money. The DUP would fight to preserve local democracy.
Health spokeswoman and Strangford MP Iris Robinson referred to healthcare and questioned levels of resources.
Building "social capital" is vital, she said. "The social model of health isn't just about disease and illness. It also emphasises the environment, education, employment, poverty and housing among other factors. The health of any individual is a product of social, interpersonal, psychological and environmental factors, and is not simply a medical matter."
She questioned claims that current levels of funding were adequate.
"No level of funding will ever prove sufficient to match the need that exists. However, in the province we should at least expect to receive enough to ensure the same services are available as across the rest of the UK."
She accused direct-rule ministers of ignoring true levels of need, and pointed the Northern Ireland Office towards a study commissioned by the Assembly which indicated that health need in the North required around 20 per cent extra spending per capital than in Britain.
The most vociferous attack on the plan to cut the number of councils came from South Antrim MP Rev William McCrea
He said concern was shared by all parties. "It is clear just how strong feelings are running on this issue."
He contrasted the government's stated objective of cost-cutting with its high-levels of spending on the Stormont institutions.
"Why is local government singled out when the government has been silent on the huge political bureaucracy which has surrounded the Belfast Agreement with 108 Assembly members, 11 government departments, a host of North-South bodies largely for show and an equality agenda which bleeds millions of pounds out of public and private sector hands every year?"