Created in 2007, the ward elects three councillors using the single transferable vote electoral system and covers an area with a population of 11,592 people.

The ward was created following the Fourth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2007 Scottish local elections.

As a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, local elections in Scotland would use the single transferable vote electoral system from 2007 onwards so Doon Valley was formed from an amalgamation of several previous first-past-the-post wards.

Doon Valley includes the southernmost part of the council area between its borders with South Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway and takes in the towns of Dalmellington, Patna and Drongan.

[2] Following the Fifth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2017 Scottish local elections, the ward's boundaries were not changed.